Horror
February 2026

Recent Releases
Midnight Somewhere
by Johnny Compton

In his disturbing and thought-provoking short story collection that's "good, creepy fun" (Booklist), Bram Stoker Award nominee Johnny Compton (The Spite House) blends supernatural horror and magical realism.

For fans of: Stephen King's Night Shift and the work of Junji Ito
Dark Sisters
by Kristi DeMeester

Unfolding across three timelines, Kristi DeMeester's fast-paced latest centers on the "Dark Sisters," a pair of vengeful witches whose hold on the women of small-town Hawthorne Springs spans centuries.

For fans of: The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth.
Snake-Eater
by T. Kingfisher

In search of a fresh start after leaving her emotionally abusive fiancé, cash-strapped Selena heads to the small desert town of Quartz Creek, Arizona to stay at her late aunt's abandoned home. But not all is as it seems in Quartz Creek, as she soon discovers she's being watched by the same malevolent creature who targeted her aunt.

Fans of: dark fantasy/horror hybrids 
A Box Full of Darkness
by Simone St. James

Eighteen years after the sudden disappearance of their six-year-old brother, Ben, the Esmie siblings return to their childhood home in upstate New York at the urging of Ben's ghost, hoping to find answers.

For fans of: Model Home by Rivers Solomon.
Focus on: Short Stories
Hellions: Stories by Julia Elliott
Hellions: Stories
by Julia Elliott

An electric story collection that blends folklore, fairy tales, Southern Gothic, and horror, reveling in the collision of the familiar with the wildly surreal. A genius at the short-story form, Julia Elliott achieves new highs with the astonishing Hellions. Beautiful, visceral, surprising stories, both wild and dangerous, with a Southern twang but universal appeal.

What others say: Elliott is an Angela Carter for our times. One of my favorite collections of the past few years.--Jeff VanderMeer, author of Absolution
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. (editors); introduction by Stephen Graham Jones

Incorporating social commentary and elements of folklore and traditional beliefs, this compelling anthology features 26 original horror tales from new and established Indigenous authors including Darcie Little Badger, Tommy Orange, and Brandon Hobson.

 
Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora by Lee Murray
Silk & Sinew: A Collection of Folk Horror from the Asian Diaspora
by Lee Murray

"Soil," "Estuary," "Bedrock," "Roots," and "Air" are the five sections that ground this ambitious anthology of stories, poems, and drawings, which dig into the anger, complications of assimilation, and racist stereotypes from which the volume's Asian folk horror is unearthed. Each section begins with a poem by a foundational author. The stories that follow take readers on an unsettling journey where trigger warnings abound. As readers make their way through, tales of ghosts, shape-shifters, and family dynamics morph into sinister nightmares of violence, body horror, cannibalism, and more.

For fans of: House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias or The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim.

 
Out There Screaming: An Anthology of New Black Horror
by Jordan Peele (editor)

Edited by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jordan Peele (Get Out), this creepy anthology collects stories from lauded Black authors including N.K. Jemisin, Tananarive Due, Cadwell Turnbull, and more. It's "essential reading for any horror fan" (Publishers Weekly).
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Forsyth County Public Library
770-781-9840 | ForsythPL.org