It’s finally spooky season!
Or close enough. Which means we can start screaming about the plethora of horror novels coming out this October.
You’ve heard of an advent calendar — well, this is a demented calendar. A book a day keeps the ghosts away! But only for October. You’re on your own for Christmas.
There may not be a chill in the air just yet here in Southern California, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give yourself some by reading one of these scares.
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Before we dive in, let’s talk about the genre of horror for a moment. It sometimes gets the pointy end of the stick from critics, but the bad rap is unwarranted. Well, outside of the villainous characters that really no one should like. That’s the thing though: we do like them. In fact, most of us can’t get enough of them, flaws and all.
“People don’t realize what a broad term horror is, and what a home it is for every kind of story,” CJ Leede, author of the recent “Headlights,” said earlier this year in an interview. “Fear is such a human experience, and there’s so much light to be found in the darkness.”
From first-time novelists to literary giants and nonfiction writers, this list has something for every horror subgenre fan. We’ve got your standard hauntings, vamps and psycho killers, but there are also some nice Lovecraftian eldritch monsters, sneaky cats and even a “Hamlet” reimagining. At the heart of every one, though, you’ll find stories about what it is to be human. Sometimes it’s easier to digest what it is to be alive by reading all about what isn’t.
And if you can’t find something in this list of 31 upcoming releases, well, friends, we couldn’t fit everything coming out this October just in horror here. Legit, there’s probably at least 31 books of the spooky variety coming out in the first week of the month.
Oct. 6
“Dive Bar at the End of the Road” by Kelley Armstrong (St. Martin’s)
What do you do when you find yourself stranded with a group of strangers after a car crash? Well, for one, you don’t go outside, and Armstrong is here to tell you why in “Dive Bar at the End of the Road.”
“American Crow” by Ryan Burruss (Counterpoint)
Chasing the American Dream following World War II, the residents learn there’s more than their own secrets buried in their Maryland suburb, and it’s hungry. This midcentury gothic is the debut novel from Burruss.
“Your Beloved Remains” by Quinn Connor (Flatiron)
The third novel from the pen name of author duo Robyn Barrow and Alex Cronin, “Your Beloved Remains,” is dark academia meets sapphic Southern horror. Professional rivals join together to save the haunting work of a 19th-century writer.
“Monstrous Bitch: A History of Terrifying Women” by Eleanor Johnson (Princeton)
Brace yourself, nonfiction has entered the group chat, and she’s here to talk about misogyny. Johnson, a Columbia University professor who’s no stranger to examining women in horror culture (side note: also check out her “Scream With Me”), investigates the origins of monstrous female figures throughout history, from ancient Mesopotamia to modern-day cinema.
“House Haunters” by KC Jones (Nightfire)
Jones takes on AI in an unlikely way, through reality TV. In “House Haunters,” a reality TV producer is looking for the next big thing and hopes to find it in the form of a ghost hunter, but is saving your job worth losing your life?
“Carrying” by Samantha Josephs (Putnam)
“Carrying” will make you laugh, cry and gag, potentially all at the same time. This debut from Josephs is already longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and with good reason, delivering a social commentary with snark and body horror.
“Quaint Folk” by Bitter Karella (Run For It)
You know you’re in for a good folk horror tale when, well, “folk” is in the title. Americans move to a quaint British village, then add in some ancient standing stones and a vengeful rabbit god, and boom, you have this satirical queer horror.
“Find Me Where It Ends” by Cassandra Khaw (Nightfire)
Horror mainstay Khaw returns with the beautiful “Find Me Where It Ends” to look Death in the face — literally, since that’s Death with a capital “D,” and they’re there in the form of a black dog — and confront one’s own mortality.
“Other Worlds Than These” by Stephen King and Peter Straub (Scribner)
It’s not as common these days to be able to include King in a new publication roundup, so to say we were excited for his latest with the late Straub is an understatement. Constant Reader, rejoice: the Tailsman novels are actually a trilogy, and we get to dive not just back into the world of our beloved Jack Sawyer but also that of the Dark Tower series that we can never get enough of in “Other Worlds Than These.”
“Amityville Awakens” by Robert P. Ottone (Clash)
One word: Amityville. What else do we need to know? Fine. Ottone gives a fresh take on our fave haunted house, detailing what happens after it’s (fictionally) been demolished, causing it to unleash wrathful spirits on everything and everyone nearby. Long Island, beware!
Oct. 13
“Don’t Leave Her Alone” by Desirée de Fez and translated by Lizzie Davis (Footnote)
This translation of the international bestseller “Don’t Leave Her Alone” asks just how much it takes to break us apart and force us to break free. The debut novel from Spanish journalist de Fez centers on three women as they navigate the complexities of motherhood, along with a little body horror along the way. Fans of Mariana Enríquez’s “Our Share of Night” will enjoy this one.
“Rottenheart” by Kat Dunn (Zando)
The author of “Hungerstone” reimagines William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” as a queer love story full of longing, grief, rage and madness — oh, and some literal haunting.
“Off the Reservation” by Stephen Graham Jones (Saga)
A new SGJ book AND it’s a sequel to his breakout hit? Our black hearts be quelled. Set five years after the events in “The Only Good Indians,” Nate Yellow Tail returns to take us into the real-life horror story of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School.
“Mystery Play” by Elizabeth Kostova (Ballantine)
More than a decade after “The Historian” — also known as one of the best Dracula books out there — Kostova is finally releasing its long-awaited sequel, “Mystery Play.” Seamlessly blending history and atmospheric horror into a deeply emotional and thrilling slow-burn is something readers of Kostova have come to love her for, and this new mystery is sure to please them. The novel follows the son of “The Historian” narrator and dips into the Gilded Age of theater.
“The Creeps” by Michael Paul Kozlowsky (Keylight)
In “The Creeps,” Kozlowsky introduces us to a rowdy gang of teenage ghosts who take a haunting too far and mess with the wrong mortal, finding themselves on the wrong side of vengeance.
“The Woman of the House” by Kate Mooney (Penguin)
In Mooney’s slow-burn, Rose begins to unravel as she begins to suspect that there’s more to her new house than meets the eye.
“This B Just Won’t Die!” by Tanya Pell (Gallery)
SGJ says this is his new favorite slasher novel, so we’re already on board. Pell’s protagonist was once a Final Girl, and it might have ruined her career, but now Barbara might just be a real-life Final Girl.
“Look What the Cat Dragged In” by Jason Rekulak (Flatiron)
Who doesn’t love a good cat story? Well … perhaps dog-people, this isn’t for you, or is it? A cat sitter gets a little more than she bargained for in the latest from the author of “Hidden Pictures,” which also features 60 pages of illustrations.
“It Looks Like You in the Dark” by Mathilda Zeller (Nightfire)
Readers who took notice of Zeller’s short story in the acclaimed anthology “Never Whistle at Night” can look forward to her first full-length novel, “It Looks Like You in the Dark.” This Indigenous horror debut follows a young woman as she seeks justice for her sister, leading her into the Arctic darkness.
Oct. 20
“Needlemouth” by K-Ming Chang (Simon & Schuster)
Explain a novel badly: A coming-of-age story, but with demons. Three cousins must take a man’s life for the demon Needlemouth, but will they become monsters themselves to satisfy her hunger?
“When the Night Comes Knocking” by Katherine Daniel (Berkley)
No scary stories list is complete without a little Appalachian horror. In Daniel’s “When the Night Comes Knocking,” siblings stuck in a mountain roadside convenience store must battle a monster.
“Lethal Kiss” by Taylor Grothe (Nightfire)
We’ve told you before that horror romance (horromance — yes, it has a name) is totally a thing, and Grothe — who also writes as T.G. Laine — is here to prove it with “Lethal Kiss.” Dubbed a mix between the cult-favorite film “Jennifer’s Body” and Leigh Bardugo’s “Ninth House” by publisher Tor Nightfire, the novel follows two university professors as bodies start to pile up around campus.
“Ghost Lights: Horror Short Stories” edited by Mark Morris (Flame Tree)
This horror anthology, the seventh in a series, features original stories from some of the biggest names in horror, plus five that were chosen from an open submission window. Authors include Ramsey Campbell, Eliza Clark, Rachel Harrison, Eric LaRocca, Josh Malerman, Laura Purcell, Keith Rosson, Stephen Volk, Ally Wilkes and more.
“The Turning of Sally-Mae” by Nuzo Onoh (Titan)
From the winner of the 2022 Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement comes a wondrously original blend of African folklore, body horror and dark humor. Deities battle for the souls of the unborn twins of Sally-Mae, who became pregnant after being violated by a wealthy rancher.
“Milkteeth” by Caitlin Starling (St. Martin’s)
As another horror subgenre-hopping author, Starling’s novels are always much more than they seem. This time, taking on vampire mythos, she introduces Beatrice, a vampire broodmother, who must seek out a human OB-GYN to figure out what’s happening to her changing body.
“What the Forest Devours” by Elaine Vilar Madruga and translated by Kevin Gerry Dunn (HarperVia)
This Cuban rainforest demands sacrifice, and those who live in it have no choice but to give up their children for offerings. What will it take to break the cycle?
Oct. 27
“Scorpion Deep” by CG Drews (Feiwel & Friends)
What happens when you wake up an eldritch of the deep and she kind of digs you? In the latest from the author of “Don’t Let the Forest In” and “Hazelthorn,” a lonely boy accidentally summons a sea god, who’s a wee bit clingy.
“Savage Lake” by Nick Medina (Berkley)
With his fourth novel in as many years, Medina continues to weave Native American folklore into spooky tropes such as the creepy cabin in the woods and cryptids. Plus, enjoy the nods to classic horror films throughout.
“She Isn’t Herself Tonight” by Hailey Piper (Saga)
We’re not saying it’s aliens … but it’s aliens. Noted as being eerie and heartfelt, Piper explores what it means to be chosen through “She Isn’t Herself Tonight,” which follows Rabbit, a woman who’s just been dumped, preparing for an alien abduction.
“The Wax Child” by Olga Ravn and translated by Martin Aitken (New Directions)
If you missed this one in 2025, the paperback edition of the novel, which was longlisted for the 2026 International Booker Prize, is coming out in paperback. The story is told by a wax doll created by a woman accused of witchcraft in 17th-century Denmark. It’s also based on real-life witch trials in Northern Jutland, with the author weaving in quotes from letters and court documents from the time.
“Public Access Afterworld” by Jane Schoenbrun (Hogarth)
This is the highly anticipated debut novel from the filmmaker behind recent films “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” and “I Saw the TV Glow.” What is “Public Access Afterworld”? Well, you probably don’t want to find out based on what happens to the book’s characters after they do, but yeah, that’s not going to stop us.
Congrats, you made it to the end! Thank you for reading, and as a reward, here are links to some of our previous horror coverage in case you missed these novels that came out earlier this year.
Stephen King-praised horror novelist Keith Rosson returns with ‘Crone’
Why ‘Clown in a Cornfield’ author Adam Cesare says horror is ‘in the blood’
Olivie Blake describes writing ‘Dreamland’ as a Gothic take on Hollywood
How ‘Fabulous Bodies’ author Chuck Tingle uses horror to prove love is real
‘Something Is Killing the Children’ adds a novel twist to the Slaughterverse
Why Riley Sager says ‘The Unknown’ is the ‘quintessential Riley Sager book’
How Stephen King helped influence CJ Leede’s new book ‘Headlights’
10 horror novels to scare up some chills for your summer book reading