Planting the Seeds of Terror: Botanical Horror Books

Delilah S. Dawson is the author of the botanical horror novellas Bloom and Monstera—out this week from Titan Books. Below, she recommends three of her favorite botanical horror reads. There’s something slightly terrifying about plants—and I say this from a desk featuring a Monstera deliciosa, a Philodendron tatei ‘Rojo Congo’, and a Ficus microcarpa. On the surface, plants are beautiful, decorative objects that clean the air and make a space feel lively, fresh, and natural. Below the surface, however, they are living things with an alien intelligence that blindly probe for light, move so slowly we can’t perceive it, and will gladly feast on a human corpse for their desired nutrients. They’re the perfect vehicle for a horror story, and here are some of my favorites. Eat the Ones You Love by Sarah Maria GriffinA young woman moves in with her parents and finds a job in the florist’s shop of a dying mall. She is entranced by the shop’s owner but soon learns that a different intelligence is in charge. Part Little Shop of Horrors and part Clerks, it’s a lush and atmospheric read. They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh TranIn this creepy Southern gothic climate horror YA tinged with Vietnames...