Addison Rizer is a writer and reader of anything that can be described as weird, sad, or scary. She has an MA in Professional Writing and a BA in English. She writes for Book Riot and Publishers Weekly and is always looking for more ways to gush about the books she loves. Find her published work or contact her on her website or at addisonrizer at gmaildotcom.
It’s spooky season, which means it’s the best season, at least for us horror lovers! If you’re someone who isn’t the biggest horror fan, don’t fret! You can still partake in spooky season because horror, as it turns out, plays well with others, blending into other genres with ease. Thrillers, of course, can skew on the horror side with just a little nudge. Fantasy worlds can take on a depth and tension with a horrifying creature or two. And history can take on a whole new tone, revealing societal flaws by heightening the horror that lurked there.
Maybe a thriller with horror elements is more your speed. Maybe you want a bit of fantasy with your fear. Maybe you want a scary book set in space. If that‘s the case, check out these spooky new genre-bending books all published in the last few years!
Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
Angelina lives in an isolated rundown small town that she adores, working two jobs and living with her older brother, when Jagvi, her brother’s ex whom she has a complicated history with, comes back to town. Then, during a party in a local cave, a monstrous entity latches onto Angelina, an entity that only Jagvi can help her combat. It’s a horror romance mashup for the ages!
The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig
As teenagers, a group of inseparable friends on a camping trip encounter a staircase in the woods. One of them, Matt, decides to climb it, but never comes back down. The group parts ways, needing to get out of town, plagued by the disappearance of their friend. Twenty years later, four of them return, retracing their steps to find their missing friend. This time, they all climb the staircase, bringing fantasy elements into this atmospheric and dark read.
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
Dr. Ophelia Bray, an expert in what is essentially space PTSD, joins a small crew exploring an abandoned planet, much to the crew’s irritation. On the planet, though, they find evidence of a hurried exit by the previous inhabitants. As tensions rise and someone is murdered, Ophelia wonders if fleeing was the right choice after all. Spooky meets space in this science-fiction horror novel!
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The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw
Alessa Li has power that some only dream of, but society sees it as a threat, and she’s forcibly sent to The Hellbore Technical Institute for the Gifted. There, she lives among other students with world-ending power, just trying to make it to graduation when they’re promised acceptance. But on graduation day, the instructors kill the graduating class instead. Alessa and a few others manage to escape to the library, where they must give up a sacrifice each night or find some other way out of Hellebore. Dark academia takes a turn for the horrific in Khaw’s newest release!
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
From inside a wall, a diary is discovered. Inside, it recounts the confession of Good Stab, a member of the Blackfeet Nation, turned into a vampire and seeking revenge in the aftermath of a massacre that killed 217 of his people in the 1870s. In the early 1900s, Good Stab shows up at a Lutheran church where he makes his confession. It’s a historical horror novel with a vampiric twist that’s full of bloody, bloody revenge.
If You’re Seeing This, It’s Meant for You by Leigh Stein
After being broken up with over Reddit, Dayna jumps at the opportunity to fix up a broken-down mansion in an effort to turn it into a hype house for influencers. At the house, though, one of the influencers has gone missing, and the other residents are caught between bad publicity and finding her. It’s part satiric comedy, part gothic thriller, and wholly spooky.
English (US) · 