Adam Cesare might be one of the busiest authors out there this fall. Or period, perhaps.
He has not one, but four, books coming out between now and October. Five, if you count another release coming early next year.
“With all these books coming out — really, I did not at all intend to have five books out in the span of six months — launching books has become my main job for the last few weeks,” Cesare said during a recent email interview.
The fourth in the “Clown in a Cornfield” series, “Lights! Camera! Frendo!” publishes Tuesday, Aug. 18 (HarperCollins). Next up are three reprints of Cesare’s earlier work: “Zero Lives Remaining” on Sept. 1 (Union Square & Co.), “Video Night” on Sept. 29 (Union), and “Mercy House” on Oct. 20 (Del Rey). And finally, “Bloodsick” (Union) is slated for Jan. 19.
The reprints have been re-edited and will feature fresh artwork. Also, “Video Night” has a new foreword by the new king of horror, Stephen Graham Jones, and it might be one of the best forewords ever written. Just saying.
And then there’s the movies based on his work. “Clown in a Cornfield” was made into a film in 2025, and a second is already in the works about the killer clown named Frendo based on the sequel “Frendo Lives.” Plus, his Dark Horse Comics series “Dead Mall” with artist David Stoll was optioned for an adaptation earlier this year.
“I so badly want to tell you the director for that,” Cesare said of “Dead Mall. “SO BADLY. But I can’t. I’ll just say: they’re a good director. You know and love their work.”
So what are all these books, films and comics about? Well, if the names didn’t give it away: Horror. Of all kinds. Slashers, hauntings, aliens, mutants, and vampires, oh my! All the horror subgenres a fan could ask for. And as a self-proclaimed horror enthusiast and a Bram Stoker Award winner, Cesare really knows his stuff.
“I like jumping around subgenres,” he said. “I love all flavors of horror: supernatural, splatter, quiet, true-crime-y.”
When he says he loves all horror, he’s not kidding. Cesare spends most of his time on social media, posting videos sometimes multiple times a day, reviewing rare horror DVDs that he buys to add to his extensive collection, while also letting fans know what he’s working on.
“Oh, I have some real gems. I grew up on VHS, of course, but the golden age of DVD is where I became a ‘collector,’” he says of his collection. “Any cool, novelty disc set you name it, I probably have it. ‘Evil Dead II’ in a tin. ‘Evil Dead II’ in a latex book. ‘Evil Dead II’ in … you get the idea.”
He also has an old-school blog he updates regularly and recently added a newsletter into the mix for fans to keep track of everything that he’s, well, also trying to keep track of.
“You know the ‘I Love Lucy’ bit when her and Ethel are working at the chocolate factory?” Cesare wrote on an Instagram post discussing how busy he currently is. “Yeah, basically that, only with horror books and a travel schedule full of book events.”
Speaking of events, Cesare only has one Southern California stop during his upcoming tour. He’ll be in conversation with author Brian Asman at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 24. But he hopes his 2027 tour for “Bloodsick” will bring him to more locations in the region.
Where does someone who spends most of their professional and personal time thinking about horror draw inspiration from? And why does he love it so? Read on to find out more about everything Cesare has coming for fans and then some.
These questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Q. Can you tell us about your latest novel “Lights! Camera! Frendo!”?
The “Clown” books are Young Adult slasher novels. From the first meeting with my editor at Harper on the first novel, my whole thing was, “It’s a teen slasher with no winky horror movie references!”
Not that I dislike “meta“ slashers. I just didn’t want there to be any amount of prior knowledge required to enjoy that first book. And references to decades-old movies felt like they could alienate young readers. My publisher sees these books as an opportunity to get reluctant teens reading. And that’s my goal, too, but only partly. My main goal is for my YA books to act as ambassadors for the genre I love.
But we’re three sequels in now, and there’s been a movie adaptation since the last book was released — a movie adaptation I got to be on set for a little, and got to be part of the press tour. … I had all these “Hollywood” experiences, and it felt like time to break my own rule. To go meta. But like the rest of these sequels, I wanted to mess with expectations a bit. “Lights! Camera! Frendo!” came from that. Wanting to write something metatextual that also didn’t betray the core tenets of the series.
Q. As if one book release this year wasn’t enough, you actually have four, counting the reprinting of some of your earlier work. Can you explain why those titles are being released again and what that means to you?
Yes, in September Union Square & Co. are releasing new editions of my novella “Zero Lives Remaining” and my novel “Video Night.” “ZLR” is a ghost story, set not in a haunted house but a haunted video arcade.
“Video Night” details the 1988 body-snatching alien invasion of Long Island, N.Y. Then, in October, Del Rey is releasing “Mercy House,” a book that initially came out as an ebook 11 years ago, but has never had a paperback or audiobook release. “Mercy House” is about the residents of a nursing home being transformed into bloodthirsty mutants.
I’ve been writing and publishing for about 15 years now, most of my pre- “Clown in a Cornfield” publications happening in the small and indie presses. I feel very lucky that these older titles are being re-released for a new, larger audience. And I don’t take for granted how rare this is. Most books do not get a second (or third) chance. All three of these, I’ve returned to revise the text, re-edit, and make these books the very best they can be. All have beautiful new covers by some of the best artists working (Marc Schoenbach did “ZLR,” Matt Ryan Tobin “VN” and “MH”), and “Video Night” has a new foreword by Stephen Graham Jones (!!!). I am very, very proud of the work we’ve done on them.
Q. Movie sequels often get flak for not being as good as the original, especially in horror, but that’s not always the case with books. What made you decide to make “Clown in a Cornfield” a series? Were you nervous about readers staying invested in the story?
For years, doing interviews for blogs and podcasts, I’d get asked, “Will you ever do a ‘Video Night’ sequel?” Because, at that point, “Video Night” was my most popular book. It wasn’t really something I considered, though. I didn’t think of myself as a writer who did “Series.”
“Clown in a Cornfield” changed that. The first book was bought by Harper as a standalone. It’s atypical, especially in YA, to turn a book intended to be a standalone into a series. But even before the first book came out, I was emailing my editor, asking if he was ready to do “Frendo Lives.” It just made sense to me. It felt like what you did with a slasher. Jason doesn’t even get his iconic hockey mask until Part 3 [of “Friday the 13th”]! Franchise storytelling is just part of the genre. But, to your question: I’m terrified of repeating myself. Terrified of boring an audience. So I think that’s the fun of these books, as the sequels progress. And I truly think the books are getting better with each installment. People can debate my talent as a writer, but I don’t think a single person can read Clown 3 or 4 and say “Adam’s a one-trick pony.” I am, at the very least, a 4- or 5-trick pony.
Q. Your storylines start with a plot that some might assume could be predictable, but they never are. Do you go into your novels knowing what type of twists the story will take or what the outcome will be?
It’s a big debate in writing circles, an ideological divide: “pantsers vs plotters,” and I am certainly a plotter. [A pantser is someone who writes by the seat of their pants.] I outline all my books. Not just because it’s a requirement from the publishers (it is), but because of that thing I said above, about being terrified of repeating myself. I want to make sure these stories work, if just on a plot, character, and twist level, before I invest the time in writing them. The twists are the best part. There’s a twist in “Clown 4” that was basically my whole reason for writing the book.
And I think that’s a good trick with genre writing in general: start with a story or character that might seem “stock” or cliché or tropey, but then start twisting things and start teasing out nuance and subversions, and hopefully you end up surprising people.
Q. What draws you to the horror genre?
I’ve always loved it. I talk to a lot of horror fans, and everyone’s always got their personal origin story. For example, my dad took me to see Wes Craven’s “New Nightmare” (1994) in theaters. I was 6. I did not make it all the way to the end before fleeing the theater in terror. But was that really my origin story? No, because I had to be drawn to the genre before that; how else would I have ended up begging my dad to take me to that movie? I think with some horror fans — not all — it’s like that; it’s just in the blood. A lot of my earlier work is about exploring that fandom. “Video Night” is all about that. The two main characters, they’re complete opposites in a lot of ways, but the genre binds them together.
Q. You play with many horror subgenres in your work; do you have a favorite?
Vampires. I love vampire film and fiction more than any other horror thing. It took me a very long time to feel confident enough in myself to try and write a vampire novel. It’ll be out in early 2027. It’s called “Bloodsick.”
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Q. Many of your characters are teenagers or young adults, which is the case in a lot of horror stories. Why do you think that is?
Personally? It’s because I’m a former high school English teacher. It’s probably a “write what you know” thing, for a lot of my books to be about young people, being written while I was interacting with young people all day. But more generally, I think teens make good horror protagonists because our teenage years are already a high-stress time, a high-energy time in our lives. That’s not to mention the body horror. Being a teenager is a very Cronenberg time in one’s life.
Q. You have an active presence on social media. Do you feel like that’s something required of authors these days? Or is it just a way for you to express being a horror fan? Or both?
I see some authors complain that their publishers or agents or whoever are pushing them to post on social media. But I don’t see my relationship to social media that way. I’m lucky, because my main hobby (watching and collecting horror movies) really easily lends itself to posting content that connects to the books I’m trying to sell. I’d have a harder go of it if I were instead really into fly fishing or something. But, jokes aside, there are days where the pressure to post, to comment, to “engage” is a little draining, especially when I’m in draft on a novel, and I’m telling myself, “Wait, isn’t my job to be a writer?” But also: I’m not digging ditches. I’m not putting my life and body on the line here. I have a really fun and safe, and privileged job. So, I can push through and post a TikTok or two if it helps me stay employed.
Q. You have an extensive horror film collection; what are some of your most prized possessions in that collection?
The discs that mean the most to me are the movies I’ve had autographed. I have Herschell Gordon Lewis’s signature on “Blood Feast” (1963); I was lucky enough to meet him twice. George Romero signed my “Season of the Witch” (1973). I’ve yet to meet Don Coscarelli, but I have a “Phantasm” sphere waiting for his signature.
Q. It’s probably hard to pick your favorite horror films, but are there any specific ones that you find have influenced your work more than others? What about other books and media?
Stuart Gordon and Frank Henenlotter loom large. “Re-Animator” (1985), “Basket Case” (1982). Less for their gore and goo, more for their attitudes. I appreciate how serious-minded Gordon’s work can be, while still being very funny and scary. I think “Zero Lives Remaining” owes a lot to both filmographies.
Lloyd Kaufman, too. “The Toxic Avenger” and “Class of Nuke ’Em High” are favorites, of course, but more than his films, I think Lloyd’s general presence — how he communicates to Troma fans, his showmanship. I like to think I’m a pretty authentic guy at events, but if I’m ever “putting on a persona” for videos or during panels … it’s a very Lloyd-inspired persona.
Books: Stephen King, Clive Barker, and Anne Rice are influences, but they’re also everyone’s influences in the horror scene. I was the perfect age for “Goosebumps,” so R.L. Stine. Jack Ketchum and Joe R. Lansdale are big for me. Brian Keene, when I was in late high school, early college, deciding to actually write. Also during that same period, and she’s somewhat remade herself in her more recent novels, which are still great, but the first three horror novels of Sarah Langan.
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Q. You also give a lot of shoutouts to your hometown bookstore. Do you have any other favorite bookstores you like to visit while on the road?
Yes, in Philly we’re spoiled with great bookstores. For genre fans, there’s Thrillerdelphia, but the store I visit most is actually a children’s bookstore. Children’s Book World in Haverford, PA. They mail out signed books for me, so I’m there every week, personalizing and signing.
I’m a big fan of BookPeople in Austin. I’ve never done an event there, but I’m about to on this upcoming tour. Brookline Booksmith was my college bookstore (I went to Boston University). It’s insane that I get to do touring events at the store I visited weekly, during the best reading years of my life.
Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego: their name is legendary. But I’ve never actually been inside! They are the convention bookstore for San Diego Comic-Con, though, and they were lovely to work with when I was there in 2025. My event there is with SoCal writer Brian Asman (#VanDeath). Monday, August 24th. Get tickets now!
Q. Do you have any other projects you’re working on you’d like to talk about?
I’m excited to get back to writing. I have a novella I’m doing next. Which is a format I haven’t written in over a decade. Then another YA novel after that. I’m a busy boy.
Q. What is something about a piece of your work that you wish people knew?
As much as the title “Clown in a Cornfield” draws some people in, it probably repels just as many. They probably think they know what a book with that title is. Or, related, they think they know what I’m all about, because I’m usually acting like a jackass on the internet. But I think those people aren’t really aware of what’s in that book, the ferocity of it. If they knew, I think they’d like it.
Same goes for “Zero Lives Remaining” and “Video Night,” which have very 80s-horror-inspired covers. They’re gorgeous covers. But there’s more to them than that, I promise. “Mercy House”? “Mercy House” is just as gross and irredeemable as Tobin’s incredibly gross and irredeemable cover would imply. But I also think there’s a time and place for a book like that.
Q. And finally, if you could ask your fans one question, what would it be?
Not to be so insecure, but “You’ll never leave me, right?”