I just finished reading The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, and I really enjoyed it. I think he did a great job blending horror with Native American culture while exploring how many modern Native people struggle to balance their traditions with contemporary American culture, as well as the racism and stereotypes they face. If you’re looking for a great horror story, give it a try.

(Not looking for writing advice, just recommendations)

So l've finally hit the point in my smutty horror novel where, after 8 chapters and 81k words of buildup, foreshadowing, and deliberately obfuscated and hazy wording, the MC sees his love interest in her full nightmarish monster form. I've had this scene in mind going on 2 years, imagine a fucked up take on the ally rescue scene in the first Spiderman. But now that l've finished the violence and reached the point he sees her clearly, straight up describing her feels really clunky and anti-climactic.

I'd love some recommendations for the best scenes and passages out there that give the reader their first real look at a monster/villian/antagonist. Classic, gothic, modern, whatever, anything that might give me a little inspiration juice would be amazing!

A couple years ago i would have picked slashers every single time without thinking twice. then i read hex by thomas olde heuvelt and something clicked for me. i found myself caring way more about the town and the people than the actual curse. now i keep drifting toward folk horror and stories with strange communities. how have horror books helped you unlearn shame instead of just giving you relatable characters. i feel like those quieter themes stick with me long after the scary scenes fade. i still enjoy a good bloody book every now and then because popcorn horror has its place. but lately i want books that mess with my head a little more. maybe i am chasing that same feeling without realizing it. i would love recos that lean into that emotional side while staying creepy. what should i pick up next?

“Jackknife” by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1) is the first book in this exclusive Amazon Original Series of horror short stories. I’m so glad they started this off with Hill because this is one hell of a way to start a collection.

In case you’re interested in “The Shivers Collection” and which authors are a part of it, here’s the entire collection…

Jackknife by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1)
The Indigo Room by Stephen Graham Jones (The Shivers Collection #2)
The Blanks by Grady Hendrix (The Shivers Collection #3)
Night and Day in Misery by Catriona Ward (The Shivers Collection #4)
Letter Slot by Owen King (The Shivers Collection #5)

I love every author in this collection, and I can’t wait to complete it. Before I begin my review, here are all the trigger warnings I found while reading…

- Grooming teenagers (nothing graphic)
- Drugs
- Dead animals (very graphic involving a cat)
- Politics
- #MeToo movement
- Sexual abuse of minors
- Suicide

If any of these trigger you, please do not read this book. Moving along, I have to give credit to Hill, since I’ve never read a “tree horror” book as scary as this. I love his writing style, as it was great and over the top. It’s barely 46 pages, and my goodness, what a powerhouse of a freaky read.

The main character, Dennis, was someone I loathed. Hill’s character development of Dennis was surreal. I hated him and was hooked on what kind of karma was coming his way. I would never ruin a book for anyone, so no spoilers here, but this was fantastic from start to finish.

As always with Hill’s work, I enjoyed his references in this book. As a coffee lover, it was great to see Dunkin’ mentioned, and of course, The Lord of the Rings thanks to Ents. I love LOTR, but the tree horror found here was so wild, I made many weird faces while reading.

The backstory and insight in “Jackknife,” with its uniquely written tree horror, were compelling and felt like they could have easily been part of The Conjuring universe. This was a genuine page-turner that I couldn’t put down from the sheer horror of it all.

When it comes to the ending, this was on the level of Stephen King because I didn’t see that coming at all. I finished this book with a huge smile on my face, thanks to a beyond satisfying ending that has a “drop-the-mic” moment and proves why Hill is such a phenomenal author. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Get it? Tree? Tree horror? Okay, I’ll see myself out now.

I give “Jackknife” by Joe Hill (The Shivers Collection #1) a 5/5 for being one hell of a fun ride with a refreshing take on tree horror. Seriously, you’ll probably never want to look at a barren tree the same ever again after reading this short story. I’m so excited to dive into the rest of this collection.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, since I already found a jackknife, it’s time to go hang out in an indigo room.

I'm a big fan of slow burners, well crafted books that take their time to build the story in order to reach a great climax, but I'm looking for something different now.

I want to read books that get weird/nightmarish/scary/disturbing from the first few pages. No time to waste. I want to feel like I stumbled upon something I shouldn't have, with no explanation, and try to figure it out as I go.

‘Incidents’ is a much better title imo…

Looking for a horror/detective fiction combo with a focus on gathering clues, deduction, and solving the mystery. My dream would be something like a Sherlock Holmes or Poirot novel but with horror elements! (Robert Jackson Bennett's Leviathan series comes close with some body horror/cosmic horror elements.)

I read Last Days by Brian Evanson and it didn't quite scratch the itch – looking for something with more mystery-solving (paranormal or otherwise).

Why does our species always have to take our full measure of God-given misery and terror and mortality and then make it worse?”

The Terror by Dan Simmons is a frostbitten tour de force of historical fiction and horror, a mix that I’m quite appreciative of as both a horror fan and history fan. I came into The Terror with fairly high expectations, after all I’ve read Hyperion which is one of the best scfi novels ever and I’ve heard nothing but good things about this novel. But how does it stand up? Well overall I think The Terror is a good novel, but I also think it’s one that could not only be better, but didn’t live up to its reputation in my eyes.

To begin, there’s a lot that this book does well. It is absolutely unrelenting in its description of the terrible things that the men aboard the terror probably had to endure, from frostbite, to hunger, to scurvy, Dan Simmons is exacting in his description of the natural horror that is the Arctic. I also enjoy how much of this book seems to be steeped in historical research, Simmons hold nothing back when talking about how the men onboard this ship thought, acted, ate and slept and to me the first half of this novel is nearly perfect because of its focus on these elements. Finally I love the supernatural monster in this novel, it is a totally unrelenting beast and I like how unique it is compared to the more mundane monsters such as vampires.

Where this book loses me however is more towards the back half of this novel. I feel as though once the men depart their ship, this book loses a lot of its momentum, focus and just unravels into something else that I didn’t enjoy nearly as much. As much as I find Inuit culture and native culture fascinating, I felt Simmons put those ideas into the book very oddly and it felt rushed. I also feel like so much of the second half of the book is just the same, which makes sense because they’re just a bunch of guys dying on the ice but still, I felt like Simmons was squeezing a lemon that had no juice left. I love a long, grand novel as much as anyone, and I think there’s a way to write a novel this length about the same story and subject, but the way Dan did it just wasn’t quite right. I also really don’t enjoy how much Simmons seems to rely on repeating the same phrases and descriptions over and over again, yes they’re good but let’s use some similes and other hyperboles.

Overall The Terror is a good novel that in my opinion could’ve and should’ve been great. The first half of this novel is incredibly strong, but the back half unfortunately left a lot to be desired and I felt like the ending was very weak overall. There’s parts it rally enjoy such as the creature and focus on historical detail, but there’s also parts I felt like I had to push through to get to the end. 8.4/10

Hello all!

I am a High School English teacher and this year I get the privilege to build and teach my very own "Sci-Fi" lit class as an elective! This is very exciting for me as I have never been able to build a class from scratch before.

Now you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with horror lit? Well, my idea is that Science fiction is rooted very deeply in Gothic literature, more specifically Gothic horror, so my very first unit will be Gothic horror. The issue is is that I'm running into some problems with selecting books.

The idea is that students will have a book list they get to choose from for each unit and it exists as a multi-media class, so while they are reading, we are also watching movies, reading short stories, discussing art and music etc. etc.

Now, I'm pretty well-versed on the Gothic Horror genre but I do have a couple areas in which I'm running into blank spots. My idea is that I'd like to split the book lists into different categories. Example being: Vampires (Carmilla, Dracula, IWTV), Sciencey acts of "god" (Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) etc. etc. and others. But I'm drawing a blank at Werewolf gothic horror books.

Now google has spat out a couple titles at me such as the Werewolf of Paris, but I'm concerned about readability for 16-18 year old's. The students will have a LOT of trigger warnings about the different content types of course and we will be discussing those items because that is the heart of these genres but I just need some suggestions. Sorry this was so wordy.

TLDR; I'm a High School teacher who needs recommendations for werewolf Gothic horror books for the elective I'll be teaching.

The Long Low Whistle by Laurel Hightower

• 173 pages (on Kindle)
• Released on November 4, 2025
• Synopsis: Our protagonist lived in a small mining town when disaster struck killing dozens of miners including her father who was blamed for the disaster. Fast forward to when she's a young adult, she's still fixated on the disaster and wanting to prove that it wasn't her father's fault. She returns to town searching for a way into the closed mine and finds a path. She teams up with a visiting group of cryptid hunters exchanging their help in obtaining an unseen security tape of the disaster for passage into the mine. The group enter the mine and find that they are not alone.
• Spoiler free review: This story doesn't waste your time. You're quickly underground a few pages in then return to enter the mine for the main part of the story around one-third of the way through the book. This isn't anything unique, but it's a well done creature feature where the characters are fighting the elements, darkness, and monsters. People get picked off while our cast tries to escape the mine. If you're looking for no frills monster horror, this is for you. My main complaint is that the ending was a bit abrupt.
• Content warning: none other than your typical monster attacks and deaths.

Denisovans by Jeremy Bates

• 292 pages (on Kindle)
• Released on September 9, 2025
• Synopsis: Dual protagonist story consisting of an elderly grandfather who served as a tunnel rat (soldiers who went into tunnels dug by the Vietcong and North Vietnamese forces) during the Vietnam war. The other is the granddaughter who was recently released from prison and is trying to avoid her violent ex. The pair travel to Vietnam so the grandfather can retrieve the remains of a fellow soldier killed in the tunnels during the war. There they encounter hominids that aren't as extinct as we though.
• Spoiler free review: We don't enter the tunnels until 56% through the book, which is too late for my tastes. It would have been fine if the story before that was interesting, but it's mainly our protagonists reminiscing about the past. I liked the dialog between the grandfather and granddaughter, but that's not what I was looking for. I didn't find the tunnel scenes to be particularly scary or tense. There is only a single "onscreen" human death and our protagonists are relatively easily able to run from and fight a numerically superior and physically stronger foe without much injury. The store described this as "survival horror," but I disagree with label. The front page labels it as a thriller, which I ignored when I shouldn't have. I just didn't find this particularly interesting or scary. Also, the author described the iconic Colt 1911 pistol as a revolver, which is an extremely big goof if you're familiar with firearms.
• Content warning: attempted sexual assault, references to prior sexual assaults, forced impregnation, kidnapping, suicide.
• I really enjoyed Bates' Merfolk book so much so that I ignored how mediocre his No-End House book was and the fact that I later found out he copied this from the creepypasta story without credit along with The Sleep Experiment. I believe I also heard he may have copied from other stores for his Suicide Forest book as well. After Denisovans, I think I'm done with Jeremy Bates.

I’m a sucker for interconnected stories and this was right up my alley! Ghostwritten consists of four novellas that take place in the same universe and make references to one another despite telling completely different stories. In each, a book or a “story” is the cause for chaos. I love that at the end, you’re left questioning the overlap of fiction and reality.

The author doesn’t waste time and gets right to it, which I appreciated! I think the most interesting story and my personal favourite was the second one. I liked how each story has its own particular flavour and, while connected to the others, still work as standalone pieces so if one isn’t doing it for you, you can try another.

The stories:

1. The Skin of Her Teeth— a woman is desperate to retrieve the screenplay of a cursed novel to keep her job

2. The Dark Brothers’ Last Ride— two brothers are hired to transport a strange book and are explicitly instructed to follow the rules

3. This Book Belongs to Olo— a boy in a clown mask invites some “friends” to his tenth birthday party, set to take place in his family’s odd manor

4. The Story— a man tries to uncover the mystery of his former lover’s suicide, seemingly linked to a CYOA story

Something very off-topic and intriguing, though, that I actually asked around about, is how the characters get Chinese food a couple of times—and I was very confused about why they were eating sushi and drinking sake while also eating lo mein. I didn’t know if it was some kinda mistake, or if the author was genuinely ignorant, but come to find out that in many American small towns, the “Chinese restaurant” tends to be the only hub for Asian food for miles. Really interesting!

Anyways, I think the universe and its oddities are fascinating, such as the enigma of Lucy Betancourt, who is supposedly a fictional detective written by Olo’s mother, but shows up as a real person in the final novella.

Let me know your thoughts!

I picked this book up after having an itch for something hmm… cruisy. Didn’t go in with a lot of expectations. In fact, I thought it was gonna be a run-of-the-mill zombie/slasher light read. But honestly the book surprised me in a good way. I wouldn’t call it a masterpiece by any means, but the storytelling and the language are very decent and the story pulls you in from the very first chapter.
It’s an interesting take on the vampire genre, if anyone is interested in something a bit different.
Just a small suggestion, as I’m tired of seeing the same 10 books and Stephen King being recommended in every thread.
Have a good day!

I just finished reading Trad Wife by Saratoga Schafer and it's found its home in my favorites. I have noticed I'm really drawn to books where the lead fmc has a relationship with a creature or has an entity acting as a secondary conscience in her head. Some examples of other books I love that fit into this theme:

Slewfoot by Brom

One Dark Window

The Haar

I can't think of other examples right now but if you have any recommendations please share 🙏

Is this book any good? I'm getting this recommended to me everyday through Reddit ads. I've put it on my list, but I'd love to hear from people who have actually read it.

This is a bit of a recommendation, discussion, and request in one. I've been thinking a lot about books that I love, but never hear anyone really talk about. I also seem to be on this bad book after bad book train this summer, so I could use a good recommendation. I'm tired lol.

Absolutely anything by C. S. Humble. Period. Horror westerns, supernatural, grief horror, touches on a bit of religion, possession, cosmic. He's probably my favorite horror author. I've given every book I've read of his 5 stars. Only one of his books has over 500 ratings on Goodreads. I love the way he writes characters. They feel real and honest. They have faults; no one is perfect. I first read All These Subtle Deceits that I received in a Night Worms box and immediately wanted to read everything of his. I don't know that any other horror author has made me cry and Humble has done that to me three times.

Native Fear by C. F. Page - chunky cosmic and folk horror, reads like high/fever dream weirdness, kind of cult-ish, kind of slasher-ish. There's only 97 ratings on Goodreads for this book, and I do not know why. Maybe it's just not reaching people. I loved it. I gave it a 4.5 a couple years ago, but I still think about it, so maybe I need to bump that rating up. Also, if you enjoyed Hokum, I can't explain why, but you should try this. The protagonists, the humor, the grimy feeling, the basement, and Jerry in Hokum just make these feel like they exist in the same realm.

One Last Gasp by Andrew C. Piazza - chunky historical cosmic horror, WW2 war story, body horror, liminal space. This one does have over 1,000 ratings on Goodreads, but I never hear people talk about it. It is one of favorite horror novels of all time. There's a short story you can read for free on the author's website that is a prequel to this if you don't want to commit to a 500+ page novel. Also, this book is from the main character's perspective, so you really have to let yourself get into his frame of mind.

A Song for the Void by Andrew C. Piazza - historical cosmic horror, Opium Wars at sea, body horror, claustrophobic anxiety, mass hysteria, themes of addiction. I had to double check the ratings on this one because I thought this would have more since it was a finalist in SPFBO 8 (which is mostly fantasy and sci-fi, I get it I guess). There's only 774 ratings?! This is beautifully written. It has wonderful prose even during these gruesome moments.

I always feel like I am the odd one out on mainstream horror. I always have the unpopular opinion, so I understand if these aren't for everyone. If a book is widely recommended, 9 times out of 10, I won't like it. So, give me your underhyped recs! TIA

Greetings! I saw Slasher Summer by E. L. Chen at a Wal-Mart today and was intrigued. I'd already had it on my list of books to look into after seeing the neat VHS style cover on an Instagram post. The potential meta commentary on slasher tropes sounds like something I'd enjoy, but I'm kinda broke and can't gamble $11 on a book I don't know if I'll like or not. That's where the question comes in.

Last year I read and really enjoyed The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix; anyone who's read both it and Slasher Summer: how do they compare? Especially in tone, characters, and humor/satire? I also enjoyed Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay if anyone's read that too. Thank you all for your time and have lovely Summerweens! 🌴🎃

(I hope that's a suitable flair, it wouldn't let me post without one and I wasn't sure which to pick.)

So, I just finished the audiobook of Angel Down, and maybe I missed something, but I can't wrap my head around one specific thing that happens in the book.

Ben Veck, the traumatized black soldier, destroys a biplane that's flying over head by closing his fist. The plane explodes and it has left me confused for the rest of the book.

It was an amazing book. I just can't make heads or tails of this specific event. Anyone got any answers? I hope this isn't a dumb question.

The whole ancient relic bell thing was never really explained? Why didn’t Duane come back as his dead self?? It was never explained why certain people were apart of the bad guys??

Hello! Any recs under 100 pages? A good novella usually gets me back to it! :)

Any recommendations for a Folk Horror podcast, like short story/anthology style? I found a weird horror podcast in this style, wondered if anyone has found a good folk one.

Editing to add: I love Acephale by Jeffery Walker. Something along those lines...though I realize he's more cosmic / existential.

I Need help finding a book Like The Ritual, Phantoms and other such stuff. I just want a Monster or creature like skinwalker or mimic, something that could happen or some what explainable. Some other things to compare would be prehistoric emergence, vita carnes, and weird bird. Infections and parasites would also be pretty cool too.

Just a friendly reminder that if you don't like a book, just put it down! I was going through The Road and the writing style reminded me of The Old Man and the Sea. I HATED The Old Man and the Sea! I stuck with it because I only had 60 pages left and I regretted the effort it took.

When the same thing started to happen with The Road I put it down and picked up another book I was excited to read, The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. From the first chapter I could tell this book was more my style and I finished it in a 24hr period (granted its only 160ish pages) which is very rare for me!

In conclusion, if your reading a book and you don't enjoy doing so, just pick up another and try again!(:

Disclaimer: The Road is back on my bookshelf, not in the donate pile. I will try and give it another shot at a later date.