Contemporary Horror

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The Evening Spider by Emily Arsenault
The Evening Spider
by Emily Arsenault

Two haunted young mothers live in the same house in two different centuries—Frances, who becomes obsessed with a famous murder trial, and Abby, who, 125 years later, discovers Frances' diary and is convinced that there is a supernatural presence in her house. By a New York Times Notable author.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Handmaid's Tale
by Margaret Atwood

In the Republic of Gilead, a Handmaid named Offred lives in the home of the Commander, to the purpose that she become pregnant with his child. Stripped of her most basic freedoms, (work, property, her own name), Offred remembers a different time, not so long ago, when she was valuable for more than her viable ovaries, when she was mother to a daughter she could keep, and when she and her husband lived and loved as equals. Darkly prescient, scathingly sarcastic, and eminently frightening, The Handmaid's Tale has only gained relevance since it was originally published.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng
by Kylie Lee Baker

This is what it felt like to live in New York City during lockdown: haunted, absurd, terrifying, ridiculous, and full of hungry ghosts.--Grady Hendrix, New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted HouseIn this explosive horror novel, a woman is haunted by inner trauma, hungry ghosts, and a serial killer as she confronts the brutal violence experienced by East Asians during the pandemic.Cora Zeng is a crime scene cleaner, washing away the remains of brutal murders and suicides in Chinatown. But none of that seems so terrible when she's already witnessed the most horrific thing possible: her sister, Delilah, being pushed in front of a train.Before fleeing the scene, the murderer shouted two words: bat eater.So the bloody messes don't really bother Cora--she's more bothered by the germs on the subway railing, the bare hands of a stranger, the hidden viruses in every corner, and the bite marks on her coffee table. Of course, ever since Delilah was killed in front of her, Cora can't be sure what's real and what's in her head.She pushes away all feelings and ignores the advice of her aunt to prepare for the Hungry Ghost Festival, when the gates of hell open. But she can't ignore the dread in her stomach as she keeps finding bat carcasses at crime scenes, or the scary fact that all her recent cleanups have been the bodies of East Asian women.As Cora will soon learn, you can't just ignore hungry ghosts.
Old Soul by Susan Barker
Old Soul
by Susan Barker

Sinister, mysterious and gorgeously realised, Old Soul is as good on the horror and subliminity of love (and its shadow, loneliness) as it is on nerve-flaying visions of the vicious supernatural. -- Kaliane Bradley, author of The Ministry of Time In Osaka, two strangers, Jake and Mariko, miss a flight, and over dinner, discover they've both brutally lost loved ones whose paths crossed with the same beguiling woman no one has seen since. Following traces this mysterious person left behind, Jake travels from country to country gathering chilling testimonies from others who encountered her across the decades--a trail of shattered souls that eventually leads him to Theo, a dying sculptor in rural New Mexico, who knows the woman better than anyone--and might just hold the key to who, or what, she is. Part horror, part western, part thriller, Old Soul is a fearlessly bold and propulsive tale about predation, morality and free will, and one man's quest to bring a centuries-long chain of human devastation to an end.
The Possession of Alba Díaz by Isabel Cañas
The Possession of Alba Díaz
by Isabel Cañas

When a demonic presence awakens deep in a Mexican silver mine, the young woman it seizes must turn to the one man she shouldn't trust... from bestselling author Isabel Caänas. In 1765, plague sweeps through Zacatecas. Alba flees with her wealthy merchant parents and fiancâe, Carlos, to his family's isolated mine for refuge. But safety proves fleeting as other dangers soon bare their teeth: Alba begins suffering from strange hallucinations, sleepwalking, and violent convulsions. She senses something cold lurking beneath her skin. Something angry. Something wrong. Elâias, haunted by a troubled past, came to the New World to make his fortune and escape his family's legacy of greed. Alba, as his cousin's betrothed, is none of his business. Which is of course why he can't help but notice her every time she enters a room or the growing tension between them... and why he notices her deteriorate when the demon's thirst for blood grows stronger. In the fight for her life, Alba and Elâias become entangled with the occult, the Church, long-kept secrets, and one another... not knowing that one of these things will spell their doom--
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes by Clay McLeod Chapman
Wake Up and Open Your Eyes
by Clay McLeod Chapman

From master of horror Clay McLeod Chapman, a relentless social horror novel about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media. Noah has been losing his polite Southern parents to far-right cable news for years, so when his mother leaves him a voicemail warning him that the Great Reawakening is here, he assumes it's related to one of her many conspiracy theories. But when his phone calls go unanswered, Noah makes the drive from Brooklyn to Richmond, Virginia. There, he discovers his childhood home in shambles and his parents locked in a terrifying trancelike state in front of the TV. Panicked, Noah attempts to snap them out of it. Then Noah's mother brutally attacks him. But Noah isn't the only person to be attacked by a loved one. Families across the country are tearing each other apart--literally--as people succumb to a form of possession that gets worse the more time they spend glued to a screen. In Noah's Richmond-based family, only he and his young nephew Marcus are unaffected. Together, they must race back to the safe haven of Brooklyn--but can they make it before they fall prey to the violent hordes? 
The Violence by Delilah S. Dawson
The Violence
by Delilah S. Dawson

When a mysterious illness sweeps the nation, resulting in sudden, explosive bouts of animalistic rage, Chelsea, who has been abused by her husband for years, uses the opportunity to liberate herself from him once and for all.
The Book of the Most Precious Substance by Sara Gran
The Book of the Most Precious Substance
by Sara Gran

After a tragedy too painful to bear, former novelist Lily Albrecht has resigned herself to a dull, sexless life as a rare book dealer. Until she gets a lead on a book that just might turn everything around. The Book of the Most Precious Substance is a 17th century manual on sex magic, rumored to be the most powerful occult book ever written—if it really exists at all. And some of the wealthiest people in the world are willing to pay Lily a fortune to find it—if she can. Her search for the book takes her from New York to New Orleans to Munich to Paris, searching the dark corners of power where the world’s wealthiest people use black magic to fulfill their desires. Will Lily fulfill her own desires, and join them? Or will she lose it all searching for a ghost? 
Such Sharp Teeth by Rachel Harrison
Such Sharp Teeth
by Rachel Harrison

When she is attacked by a huge animal, Rory Morris becomes unnaturally strong, changing into someone else--or something else--and wonders if she is putting those close to her in danger or if embracing the wildness inside her is the key to acceptance.
We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix
We Sold Our Souls
by Grady Hendrix

In this hard-rocking, spine-tingling supernatural thriller, the washed-up guitarist of a '90s heavy metal band embarks on an epic road-trip across America and deep into the web of a sinister conspiracy. In the 1990s, heavy metal band Dèurt Wèurk was poised for breakout success--but then lead singer Terry Hunt embarked on a solo career and rocketed to stardom as Koffin, leaving his fellow bandmates to rot in obscurity. Two decades later, former guitarist Kris Pulaski works as the night manager of a Best Western--she's tired, broke, and unhappy. Everything changes when a shocking act of violence turns her life upsidedown, and she begins to suspect that Terry sabotaged more than just the band. Kris hits the road, hoping to reunite with the rest of her bandmates and confront the man who ruined her life. 
The Snakes by Sadie Jones
The Snakes
by Sadie Jones

A family visit at a snake-infested hotel in Burgundy is complicated by a new husband's insecurities about his psychologist wife's wealthy parents, difficult personal secrets and a brutal tragedy. By the award-winning author of The Outcast.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter
by Stephen Graham Jones

A chilling historical horror novel tracing the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice. Jones has written his Interview with the Indigenous Vampire. A landmark of horror and historical fiction alike, perhaps the closest thing we have to horror's Moby-Dick. --Vulture Inventive and spine-tingling...a master class in voice. Queasy, uneasy, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter plays with the interplay between religion and historical guilt, identity and appetite. --The Washington PostA diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.
Fiend by Alma Katsu
Fiend
by Alma Katsu

Imagine if the Sackler family had a demon at their beck and call. The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they've always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They're blessed. At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family--Dardan, as the only male heir, must prepare to take over as keeper of the Berisha secrets, Maris's most powerful contribution, much to her dismay, will be to marry strategically, and Nora's job, as the youngest, is to just stay out of the way. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn't get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.--
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
A House with Good Bones
by T. Kingfisher

Warned by her brother that their mother seems“off,” Sam visits and discovers a once-cozy home with sterile white walls, a her mom a jumpy, nervous wreck and a jar of teeth hidden in the rosebushes.
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
Incidents Around the House
by Josh Malerman

An 8-year-old girl in the Bronx fights to keep her troubled family together as they offer the only protection against a malevolent spirit she calls“Other Mommy” and who grows stronger and asks her daily for entrance into her heart.
When the Reckoning Comes by LaTanya McQueen
When the Reckoning Comes
by LaTanya McQueen

Returning to her hometown for a plantation wedding, Mira is forced to acknowledge her history and save herself from what is to come as slaves who were tortured mercilessly roam the land seeking revenge on the descendants--the wedding guests--of those who tortured them.
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Silver Nitrate
by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Helping a cult horror director shoot the missing scene from his magic film that was never finished to lift a curse, sound editor Montserrat and her best friend Tristán start seeing strange things and must unravel the mystery of this film and the obscure occultist who once roamed their city.
Out There Screaming:
an Anthology of New Black Horror

by Jordan Peele

The visionary writer and director of Get Out, Us, and Nope, and founder of Monkeypaw Productions, curates an anthology of all-new stories of black horror, exploring not only the terrors of the supernatural but the chilling reality of injustice that haunts our nation.
Edenville by Sam Rebelein
Edenville
by Sam Rebelein

A struggling writer accepts a position at Edenville College and he and his girlfriend begin to experience a series of strange and ominous events that entangle the pair in a dark, disturbing history.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
Camp Damascus
by Chuck Tingle

Situated high up in the mountains, Camp Damascus offers a sin-free and“saved” life to its ultra-conservative Christian patrons as the self-proclaimed“most effective” gay conversion camp in America, while hiding a host of very unholy secrets.
Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay
Horror Movie
by Paul Tremblay

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick. The weird part? Only three of the film's scenes were ever released to the public, but Horror Movie has nevertheless grown a rabid fanbase. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot. The man who played 'The Thin Kid' is the only surviving cast member. He remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy. As memories flood back in, the boundaries between reality and film, past and present start to blur. But he's going to help remake the film, even if it means navigating a world of cynical producers, egomaniacal directors, and surreal fan conventions--demons of the past be damned--
Mister Magic by Kiersten White
Mister Magic
by Kiersten White

Reuniting 30 years after a tragic accident ended their show Mister Magic, the five surviving cast members, who hold the secret of their close circle, the mystery of the beloved magical host and what really happened on that deadly last day, soon wonder if they've been lured into a trap.
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