Title:Black Phone 2 Describe This Movie Using One Meatballs Quote: CAMP MOHAWK COUNSELORS: “We are the C.I.T.s, so pity us.“ Brief Plot Synopsis: Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 1.5 Henry Rollins out of 5.
Credit: Wikipedia
Tagline: “Dead is just a word.” Better Tagline: “So is ‘cash grab.’ Wait, that’s two.” Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Did you miss the Grabber (Ethan Hawke)? Well, he’s back, which is good news for you, but bad for Finney Blake (Mason Thames), who’s still dealing with the trauma of being held captive by the Grabber before killing him. Meanwhile, nightmares about three murdered little boys plague his sister Gwen (Madeleine McGraw). The murders appear linked to a mountain camp where their mother was a counselor, so of course Finney, Gwen, and Ernesto (Miguel Mora), the little brother of Finney’s murdered friend Robin, apply for counselor-in-training jobs to get to the bottom of everything.
“Critical” Analysis: If you were puzzled by the news that 2021’s The Black Phone was getting a sequel, you’re not alone. Ethan Hawke’s “Grabber” appeared well and truly dead at the end of that movie (spoiler!), but some forces are greater than death. Specifically, $161 million global box office on an $18 million dollar budget. It’s a miracle.
Set four years after the events of the first movie, Black Phone 2 uses a concept from original story author Joe Hill as inspiration. Naturally, it has to pivot to accommodate pesky things like the death of its antagonist. Director Scott Derrickson and co-writer C. Scott Cargill evidently felt the best way to accomplish this was a mashup of the summer (well, winter) camp slasher vibes of Friday the 13th with the somnambulant escapades of A Nightmare on Elm Street. The results are less than the sum of those parts.
One thing that does work is the shifting of the focus to Gwen. It’s her dreams that move the plot, giving McGraw the lion’s share of the dramatic work, and she’s mostly up to the task. It’s just too bad her range of emotion isn’t in service of a better movie. Same goes for Demián Bichir, playing Armando, the owner/manager of the camp. Bichir brings some much-needed gravitas, something of a tall order when trying to have serious conversations about a dream killer.
A good deal of what made The Black Phone work was its grounding in the real world. The paranormal elements were integral to the plot, but didn’t overwhelm it (and Derrickson really captured those late ’70s earth tones). Here, the Grabber is presented as Freddy Krueger without any antecedent or explanation until well into the movie, and only thanks to the flimsiest of horror tropes.
Why the long face, buddy? Credit: Universal Pictures
The pacing is also a problem. The original was somewhat ponderous as well, but at least it moved with purpose. Black Phone 2 too often bogs down in expository dialogue or rubbing our noses in scenes of kids getting hacked up. There’s an almost temporal distortion about the first hour, where Gwen’s sleepwalking is at the fore and not a lot happens until events contrive to get our trio to the camp.
Black Phone 2 is not without humor, though. Once the kids get there, this mostly comes from the interaction between the often foul-mouthed Gwen and Barb (Maev Beaty ), one of the Christian camp’s staff. Armando’s niece Mustang (Arianna Rivas) also earns extra credit for pointing out to Barb that cowering in fear from threats isn’t “true Christian behavior.”
As for Hawke, he’s top-billed, but it’s hard to shake the impression there’s some “Pedro Pascal in The Mandalorian” deception going on. That’s his voice as the Grabber, but aside from a few close-ups, anyone could be behind that mask.
None of the probably matters. The original Black Phone was a huge hit, and its sequel lands in theaters two weeks before Halloween. That’ll probably be enough to overcome that Black Phone 2 magnifies many of the originals movie’s negatives without offering much more beyond that than pastiche.
It has been another banner year for literary horror. Somehow, as the world gets scarier, the writers penning our nightmares still manage to keep up. What follows is merely a sprinkling — a light blood spatter — of the new horror novels that kept us awake for all the right reasons this year. From techno terrors to rural cannibalism, angelic visitations to squirmy alien sex, there is something for every spooky vibe — into the Halloween season and beyond.
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Wake Up and Open Your Eyes, by Clay McLeod Chapman
Remember back in January, when we all worried how bad the political landscape could get in 2025? And then it even surprised the most pessimistic of us? Well, it didn’t surprise Clay McLeod Chapman. Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is an allegory of polarization and media saturation, in which right-wing viral media spreads demonic possession like a plague. Communities are ripped apart, families are trapped in a downward doom spiral, and a certain encounter between an infected mother and her son proves that nothing left is sacred. At times grim, at others gleefully disgusting, Chapman’s latest is a state-of-the-nation address written in blood.
Susan Barker has a gift for the kaleidoscopic novel. Her debut, Sayonara Bar, flickers around the characters frequenting a Japanese hostess lounge, while The Incarnationstraces a single soul across a thousand years. In Old Soul, Barker has adapted the novel-as-stories form to truly frightening effect. A series of uncanny, globe-spanning deaths is linked by the presence of an enigmatic woman. As the haunted protagonist, Jake, tracks her across continents and centuries, he gradually unveils a curse of cosmic proportions. Old Soul is a novel of great variety, leaping from the gothic dampness of rural Wales to the sun-bleached Mojave to the urban gleam of Japan, but the connective tissue thrums with uncanny currents. It’s a quiet, unsettling triumph.
The Lamb is a rare and welcome word-of-mouth success from England’s neglected north. Set in an isolated stretch of the Lake District, it revolves around the deeply unhealthy relationship between young Margot, her domineering mother, and their unwilling food source. The scenes of cannibalism are queasily effective — even appetizing in the most unsettling way — but it’s Margot’s isolation and loneliness that leaves the sourest taste in your mouth. Lucy Rose excels at capturing the beautiful imprisonment of rural English life, and her writing flits between graphic horror and fablelike impressionism, both necessary registers for the battle between nature and nurture at the core of the book. It’s a stunning debut and a landmark of regional British genre fiction.
Sometimes horror readers just want to have fun. What fun means depends entirely on your personal tolerances, of course, but if you can see the funny side of family annihilation, infanticide, and vicious cruelty, then Virginia Feito’s Victorian Psycho is the book for you. When Winifred Notty accepts the role of governess to the Pound family, she begins a campaign of malice that leaves almost everyone dead. The title (and description) may suggest an allusion to Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, but Feito has done much more than transpose that ’90s controversy to a period setting. She’s written a much lighter, less grueling book than Ellis’s, but it’s nonetheless substantial enough to address the misogyny, inequality, and patriarchal exploitation that seems to have spanned the centuries intact. You’ll read it in a day, and you may need to take a shower afterward — but you’ll have fun watching Winifred do her worst.
The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, by Stephen Graham Jones
“I am America’s worst nightmare: The Indian who wouldn’t die.” Thus speaks Good Stab, the Blackfeet narrator at the heart of Stephen Graham Jones’s epic novel of blood, vengeance, and genocide. With all of that in play, the vampire may seem hardly necessary, but Jones uses his unique spin on the bloodsucker to trace the hard legacy of Manifest Destiny and the excavation of Indigenous American culture. The book roams in time, from a Lutheran minister’s interview with the vampire in 1912 Montana to a present-day academic study. It’s quintessentially Jones in all its flouted literary rules and structural left turns, but the author’s unique voice has never been better suited to the story he is trying to tell.
After Netflix’s Adolescencedirected mainstream attention to the toxic sludge awaiting young men online, Rekt drives the point home in the most disturbing ways. When Sammy Dominguez turns to the internet to assuage his grief, he stumbles across a website that offers the chance to view the lethal accidents, suicides, and murders befalling people he knows — even when some of them are still alive IRL. As his obsession grows, he’s drawn further into horror in pursuit of the truth of the impossible site. It’s a hypercontemporary cautionary tale about treading too far into online spaces and what the digital word can take from us. Gonzalez has written the darkest novel on this list, and even its trigger warnings should come with trigger warnings. Yet Rekt is so smart, so bleakly funny, and so of-the-moment that it more than earns the right to its depravities.
After two well-received novels (Mary, Nestlings), Nat Cassidy erupted into the forefront of the horror scene in 2025 with this meditation on the nature of fear and the power of childhood imagination. When wannabe actress Jess returns home from an awful diner shift, she encounters a cowering boy and the monstrous creature hell-bent on catching him. What follows is a roaring road trip, a mad cross between Terminator 2 and Stephen King’s Firestarter. But that’s just the beginning. Once the novel has time to take a breath, it undergoes a transformation into a far stranger, more emotional journey than even the most genre-savvy horror fan could anticipate. When the Wolf Comes Home is that rare thing: a true and genuine modern classic.
The mud, blood, and bombardment of the World War I trenches forms the backdrop to the most audacious horror novel of the year. Daniel Kraus’s latest high-concept literary trapeze act follows a band of dishonorable soldiers on a mission to rescue a fallen angel from the mire of no-man’s-land. What ensues is an internal war to match the grander struggle, as each man tussles with his own worst nature in light of what the angel can offer. It’s a hypervivid depiction of war, shorn of any glory — a prose wall of taste, touch, smell, and the worst sights in the world. And it’s all told in one single, winding 300-page sentence. Don’t be put off by the experimentation, though; Kraus’s writing traps the eye just as it repels the senses. Angel Down is very readable and very distressing.
Three young people are invited to the home of a childhood friend. There, they are inducted into a game that will award the winner their greatest desire. The only trouble is the game board itself: a labyrinthine house, with its hundreds of rooms and corridors, haunted by apparitions and prowled by folkloric creatures. Daphne Fama’s most gothic game of hide-and-seek is set against the Philippine’s People Power Revolution of 1986. It’s an original moment through which to refract the gothic’s endless fascination with social anxiety and class upheaval, and a welcome new perspective for horror fiction. House of Monstrous Women starts slow, as befitting a good gothic novel, but once things accelerate, the book embarks on an exhilarating charge to the finish via all manner of hauntings, insects, and monstrous winged things.
Keith Rosson charged onto every horror fan’s must-read list in 2023 after his novel Fever Houseand its sequel received glowing endorsements from the First Family of Horror: Stephen King and Joe Hill. Now, Rosson has followed that rare, raw duo with something even better. Coffin Moon is a ’70s-set vampire novel featuring a version of the undead that is not just the antithesis of the suave and sophisticated Bela Lugosi type, but one that would take great delight in curb-stomping Dracula and stealing his wallet. It’s a revenge novel at heart, in which a PTSD-stricken veteran and his adopted daughter pursue the vampire who has destroyed their family. This simple premise nonetheless hints at a deeper mythology underpinning our everyday life (think John Wick’s assassin subculture, but with fangs). It’s gory and gratuitously violent, but all that blood is pumped through a warm, well-intentioned heart. Just fantastic stuff!
Haunted houses are back, baby! And who better to put a contemporary spin on infested architecture than Rachel Harrison, the doyenne of angsty, millennial horror fiction. Her sixth novel, Play Nice reads like The Amityville Horror through a cursed Instagram filter. When online influencer Clio inherits her childhood home, she welcomes it as a new opportunity for content creation and a chance to confront the half-memories and buried childhood traumas that occurred in the house. As usual, Harrison nimbly walks the line between authentic scares and postmodern humor, but Play Nice gives a little more ventilation to both. Clio’s snark and self-confidence provides levity, but when it switches gear, Play Nice is easily Harrison’s most unsettling book since her debut, The Return. It’s a novel that horror fans will enjoy with a nod of recognition and a wry smile at the stunts Harrison pulls, but it also opens the door wide for visitors to the genre.
The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre, by Philip Fracassi
What if a killer was running amok in an old-folks home? It may sound like little more than a clever spin on the slasher genre or a darkly tinted version of Richard Osman’s megaselling Thursday Murder Club. But as with all Fracassi’s fiction, the neatness of the elevator pitch belies the story’s profound humanity. Autumn Springs is populated by finely wrought individuals, led by the indomitable Rose and her roguish friend Miller. The wider cast includes a movie-obsessed intellectual, an aging beauty with undimmed desires, and a sweet dementia patient anchored to earth by the memory of his dog. The character work elevates this far above your usual slasher or whodunit, and has a lot to say about the threat of solitude always darkening the edges of old age. But at its heart, Autumn Springs is a celebration of love, wisdom, and the value of people too often relegated to the margins of a story.
From the title alone, you might presume that Sarah Gailey’s novel is just a tiny bit horny. You would be right, but you’d probably still underestimate the sheer eccentricity of the eroticism that ensues when scientists on an isolated desert base unearth a long-dormant virus. The infected fall prey to rampant disinhibition, in a sex-positive blend of John Carpenter’s The Thing and ’90s sexploitation sci-fi “classic” Species. But unlike the exclusively male community of the former, and the latter’s heteronormative male gaze, Gaileypresents sexuality as fluid beyond all boundaries. In one taste-establishing scene, the protagonist, Dr. Kinsey, masturbates to images of bacteria. Spread Me offers far more than weird smut, however. It’s a tour de force of weird fiction; a short novel full of body horror that asks important questions about sexual shame and consent, while gleefully provoking some distinctly uncomfortable arousal. Or maybe that’s just me.
It’s hard to synopsize The October Film Haunt in anything less than an essay, so I’ll just list some of the key concepts in play. There’s a cursed avant-garde horror movie that may be an occult ritual. There’s a Slender Man–esque legend with an associated real-world tragedy. There’s a cult of film fans making a movie against the actors’ will. And there’s a demon that may be emerging from celluloid and Reddit pages to possess people. Wehunt has written one of the great internet horror stories, a book for the terminally online, who remember the early days of online legend and forum culture with nostalgia. If you’ve ever delved into the recesses of Wikipedia at 3 a.m., reading about madness and mysticism and things that may or may not be real, The October Film Haunt will tweak your rabbit-hole tendencies. But be warned: This is not an easy book, and it may not be safe. Wehunt blurs reality and fiction, confounds any expectations, and makes you feel like you’re participating in a dark ritual with each turned page.
When Josie returns to her grim British hometown after the fallout of a toxic relationship, she thinks she’s at an all-time low. But the discovery of a woman’s body — and a very strange encounter with the ants colonizing it — soon proves that things can always get worse. There is a lot going on in Itch, but in 300-something pages, Gemma Amor stacks folk horror, body horror, a ’90s-style serial-killer thriller, and a heavy dose of female rage into something satisfying and self-supporting. Nature infects everything, from the woodland murk that surrounds the town to the insects infiltrating Josie’s life, and Amor writes about it all with equal beauty and grotesquerie. Itch is a mad, transgressive triumph, rupturing the membrane between subgenres as effectively as it penetrates the skin of its protagonist.
Joe Hill’s first novel in ten years comes with a lot of expectation. Somehow, it more than exceeds them. King Sorrow is an epic in the manner of the very best ’80s and ’90s horror: expansive, maximalist, a soaring fantastical premise countered by the gravity of the characters. I’m not sure the term horror alone does justice to Hill’s imaginative reach. This 900-page Faustian pact between six young students and an eldritch dragon combines high fantasy, blockbuster action, espionage, politics, and a persistent voltage of romance. But horror connects it all, both in the monsters with wings and those on two legs. There are individual sections of King Sorrow that could stand alone with the best novellas of the year, but it’s the accumulating weight and momentum of the whole that makes this Hill’s masterpiece. He takes an unexpected turn at almost every opportunity, and there is a thrilling sense of character agency, the author merely a guiding hand, a kindly supervisor, allowing his flawed, broken cast to stumble toward some sense of redemption.
October is here, bringing with it pumpkins, black cats, and several new books about witches—not to mention romantasies, sci-fi adventures, demons, werewolves, vampires, haunted houses, haunted shipwrecks, and so much more. Need a new book or two (or 10)? Read on!
In a magical version of Los Angeles, a folklore student learns she will die the next day unless she can track down a mysterious object called “the Alchemical Heart.” (October 7)
“Drawing on historical, botanical, and occult research, and steeped in the gothic tradition, Atlas of Unknowable Things considers what it means to search for meaning in the scientific, only to come face to face with the sublime.” (October 7)
“A prince, a secret society, a momentous decision—the call of the ravens rings out. From the award-winning creator of the global board game sensation, Catan: Order of the Ravens picks up 18 years later, continuing the riveting tale of family, love, and the bitter struggle for power.” (October 7)
“When Everly’s husband and young daughter die in a car crash she finds out nothing is quite what she thought… Secrets, lies, and grief collide in this funny, tragic, intimate, and utterly compelling horror novella.” (October 7)
“Colin is a low-level employee at a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world’s most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. … When Colin meets a shadowy figure promising his deepest desire in return for a small, unspecified favor, he asks for the one thing that will improve his life: a promotion. But that small favor unleashes an ancient evil.” (October 7)
In this historical romantasy, a man seeks to break his curse by uncovering a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I. But when he sneaks his way into the court of Mary Queen of Scots, he clashes with her alluring magical protector. (October 7)
“Beelzebub, the Lord of Gluttony, is no longer his own. He’s been mine ever since he caught me singing to myself, falling prey to the magic of my song. If I can keep my distance, we can both move on. But now, he is caught under my spell, which makes him forbidden to touch. And yet, he is the only one I can trust to get me back to Crystal Hollow.” (October 7)
“In Lansdale’s nightmarish visions, you’ll discover psychotic demon nuns, a psychopathic preacher, cannibals, 80-year-old Elvis, undead strippers, flying ghost fish, Elder Gods, possessed cars, and the worst evil of all: mankind.” With an introduction by Joe Hill. (October 7)
The Apollo Murders series continues with this “edge-of-your-seat thriller about China’s secret role in the space race,” written by veteran astronaut-turned-author Chris Hadfield.(October 7)
“The daughter of legendary Dungeons & Dragons adventurers Drizzt Do’Urden and Catti-brie fights to build her own legacy in a brand-new series from R.A. Salvatore.” (October 7)
“The sequel to The Naturalist Society follows a young scientist unlocking her magical abilities amid a high-seas adventure filled with international intrigue.” (October 7)
The Dust Knights series continues, set in a world where “the worlds of three interstellar civilizations vie for honors in the Olympics … The team from Raylicon, a dying world of scorching temperatures, has never won honors”—until a new generation of gifted speedsters emerges, and the stakes rise exponentially. (October 7)
“In this queer retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne classic gothic story Rappaccini’s Daughter, a young woman is lured to a lush estate owned by a botanist who might be hiding dark secrets.” (October 7)
This horror debut novel follows “a woman who seeks refuge at an all-trans girl commune only to discover that demons haunt her fellow comrades—and she’s their next prey!” (October 7)
“In this incisive, irreverent, and whimsical cozy dark academia novel, a struggling mage student with intense anxiety must prove that classic literature contained magic—and learn to wield her own stories to change her institution for the better.” (October 7)
“Drawing on Wilson’s unique background as both a threat forecaster for the United States Air Force and a Cherokee Nation citizen, this propulsive novel asks probing questions about nonhuman intelligence, the Western mindset, and humans’ understanding of reality.” (October 7)
“A sexy, dark fantasy reimagining of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, where Katrina Van Tassel doesn’t have to choose between Brom Bones and Ichabod Crane, and there are worse things haunting them than the Headless Horseman.” (October 7)
In 1950s Hong Kong, a young Chinese refugee joins a séance competition among mediums in a haunted house, with revenge motivating her participation. It ended in a confusing disaster—and decades later, she returns to the scene to find out the truth about what happened there. (October 7)
“Theodosia’s already survived being the evil stepsister in one fairy tale, but surviving fae bargains, fairy rings, and being turned into a hedgehog will be a whole new challenge in this hilarious sequel to Laura Mayo’s How to Summon a Fairy Godmother.” (October 7)
“When a young girl goes missing, the ghosts of the past collide with her family’s secrets in a mesmerizing Native American Southern Gothic.” (October 7)
“When a young woman is bequeathed a shuttered dance hall, she begins to dream of its heyday—and learns to see her present-day entanglements in a new light.” (October 7)
The Grand Illusion series continues as “Dominic Mikail Ysella―ancestor of Avraal Ysella―is the grandson of the last king of Aloor. Stripped of most of their land, Dominic, as the third son, must support himself. He becomes a legalist and is elected to the Imperial Council quietly working as an isolate, someone unreadable by government telepaths.” (October 7)
“Someone is killing werewolves. At least, that’s the way Vincent Van Gogh tells it when he shows up at Mark Abernathy’s art gallery seeking protection. For gallery assistant and art history addict Hanna Harvey, meeting Van Gogh is a dream come true―until death follows the troubled artist to town and Hanna becomes the murderer’s next target.” (October 7)
“Malevolent doppelgangers, bizarre murders, ancient evils, Western ghosts, mirror monsters, poisonous playthings, and more populate the pages of this brilliant–and petrifying–collection of stories.” This expanded edition includes six new stories. (October 7)
The Singing Hills Cycle continues. “Wandering Cleric Chih of Singing Hills and their hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant come to the river town of Baolin chasing stories of a legendary famine. Amid tales of dishes served to royalty and desserts made of dust, they discover the secrets of what happens when hunger stalks the land and what the powerful will do to hide their crimes.” (October 7)
“When her sense of safety is shattered, a young girl realizes she must become something untamable—even otherworldly—to find freedom, in this visceral coming-of-age horror debut.” (October 7)
A struggling sailor takes a high-paying job helping bring an aging boat from Seattle to England, but soon finds she may be in over her head when the vessel reveals it’s haunted. (October 7)
In this romantasy tale, a young illusionist tries to break free from her cruel uncle by gaining entry to an elite magic school—with challenges that may spell her doom if she’s not careful. (October 7)
“From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes the remarkable sequel to Witch King. A fantasy of epic scope, Queen Demon is a story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.” (October 7)
“In the gripping conclusion to the Warring Gods duology, two women find themselves caught in an ancient feud between ruthless entities, and embark on an epic quest for power and liberation.” (October 7)
“A magical theater atop a cobblestone path alters what a couple knows about themselves—and each other—in this scintillating debut brimming with nostalgia and life-affirming wonder.” (October 7)
In 1932, a Milwaukee private eye sets out to find a missing heiress—and soon becomes “entangled with Nazis, Soviet agents, British counterspies, swing musicians, practitioners of the paranormal, outlaw motorcyclists, and the troubles that come with each of them, none of which Hicks is qualified, forget about being paid, to deal with.” (October 7)
In a small Louisiana town, intersecting characters look toward an uncertain future while sharing a connection to a “malevolent shape-shifting entity whose rage and despair stems from a tragic history of misogyny, maternal loss, and stolen ambitions.” (October 7)
“A sharply personal and expansive memoir-in-essays dedicated to the strange and absurd beauty of horror films, exploring the complications of gender, the insidiousness of class ascension, and the latent violence hidden in our own uncanny reflections.” (October 7)
“Embark on a thrilling alternate historical mystery with Sir Seaton Begg and Doctor Sinclair as they chase the enigmatic Red King assassin through the streets of Istanbul.” (October 14)
“Award-winning author Ken Liu returns with his first sci-fi thriller in a brand-new series following former ‘orphan hacker’ Julia Z as she is thrust into a high-stakes adventure where she must use her AI-whispering skills to unravel a virtual reality mystery, rescue a kidnapped dream artist, and confront the blurred lines between technology, selfhood, and the power of shared dreams.” (October 14)
“Set in the near future, A Better Paradise tells the story of the ill-fated development of an ambitious but addictive video game project that goes very wrong. As the software they developed starts to produce unexpected and disturbing results, the project is shut down and abandoned. Until now.” (October 14)
The sequel to NecroTek is “an action-packed sci-fi thriller full of weird science, kick-ass heroes, humor, passion, heroism, and sacrifice.” (October 14)
“In the far future, one young woman finds herself torn between two loves—and two sides of a rebellion boiling under the surface—in the first novel of a sweeping dystopian romance series.” (October 14)
“In a world where the line between proper and forbidden magic blurs, Quell and Jordan, along with two unlikely allies, must navigate a treachero’s path where freedom hangs by a thread. Can love tip the scales toward freedom? Or will rivalries and deadly betrayals shatter their hearts and destroy the world they once knew?” (October 14)
“A poignant, heartfelt, and funny memoir about how, in 1985, Michael J. Fox brought to life two iconic roles simultaneously―Alex P. Keaton in Family Ties and Marty McFly in Back to the Future. An amazing true story as only Michael J. Fox can tell it.” (October 14)
“In this darkly funny gothic tale, a reclusive mother and her saturnine daughter move into a haunted building brimming with eccentrics―and secrets.” (October 14)
“Based on a true story, this sparkling and witty novel whisks you to 1956 Manhattan, where famed director Alfred Hitchcock is hosting a star-studded party in an allegedly haunted house…only for the soiree to be interrupted by a ghostly party crasher.” (October 14)
“Based on the incredible true story of a woman who challenged a man who went on to become one of Europe’s most notorious and cruel witchfinders, this novel offers a jewel-bright portrait of female power.” (October 14)
“City-by-city, kingdom-by-kingdom, the Palleseen have sworn to bring ‘Perfection’ and ‘Correctness’ to an imperfect world. But before these ruthless Tyrant Philosophers send in their legions, they dispatch Outreach—the rain before the storm.” (October 14)
Set in New York City circa 2075, this Great Gatsby riff follows “a corporate hacker. An elusive billionaire. A society trying to survive the American Nightmare.” (October 14)
After losing a battle, a woman is married off to a fae prince as a way to join their kingdoms. She ends up falling for him as a new conflict looms, leading to more life-or-death romantic complications. (October 14)
“When she’s accused of witchcraft, Fortune must flee her village to spare her neck, marrying a man she barely knows. But is the man who promises to be her saviour all he seems?” (October 14)
“A princess desperate to win back the prince who broke her heart follows him to his kingdom’s prestigious military academy—and in doing so, falls in love, saves the realm, and continues to look fabulous in this delightful debut fantasy.” (October 14)
“A dark and deadly contemporary fantasy of magical warfare, star-crossed ambition, and the pursuit of perfection at any cost, set in a glittering alternate Los Angeles.” (October 14)
“A one-of-a-kind novel that grapples with the supernatural mysteries of life, death, and human connection—an unprecedented collaboration between the globally bestselling author of love stories like The Notebook and the renowned writer and director of blockbuster thrillers like The Sixth Sense.”(October 14)
“Magic stirs in the darkness, strengthening all who believe in it. But will it be enough to save Tamsyn, the pride, the kingdom…and a fiery love fated to endure for centuries, as deep as a scar in the bone?” (October 14)
“After winning an old casefile at auction outlining the disappearance of a hunting party back in the nineties, Kory and his pregnant wife invite their friend and mentor, Professor Frank Colista, and others, for a casual long weekend of exploring the mystery onsite … When one of their factions disappears without a trace, Kory and Colista fear the past may repeat itself.” (October 14)
“As an exterminator, Guy hunts the uncanny creatures that crawl up from the river. His latest quarry is different: a centipede the size of a dragon with a deadly venom and a ravenous taste for artwork … No sane person would hunt it, if they had the choice. Guy doesn’t have a choice.” (October 14)
“A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by award-winning author of Death of the Author and the Binti Trilogy, Nnedi Okorafor, and series editor John Joseph Adams.” (October 21)
“When the deadly werewolf Asil is gifted five blind dates by some anonymous ‘friends,’ his reclusive life will never be the same in this enthralling novel in stories.” (October 21)
“A down-on-her-luck woman makes a deal with a crafty demon to win back her ex-girlfriend after a proposal gone awry, only to discover the girl of her dreams might be the devil she knows.” (October 21)
“In this hilarious contemporary fantasy romance, an exasperated low-level investment banker is trapped in a magical realm by a faerie prince, where she must survive in a strange new world with only her wits—and a solid wi-fi connection.” (October 21)
The Cunning Man series continues as “Hiram Woolley and his son Michael carry an itinerant preacher across the border into Mexico … where they’re dragged into investigating an impossible murder … They battle bandits and also an elusive ghostmaster who blights the land with the spirits of the uneasy dead.” (October 21)
“In this thrilling sequel to The Hollow and the Haunted, the web of dark magic around two rival families becomes ever more difficult to untangle. Time is running out, and the dead are hungry.” (October 21)
“A chilling tale of modern-world dangers, dark academia, and the unexpected consequences of revenge as six friends dabble in the occult and are tragically, horrifyingly successful… calling forth an evil entity that demands regular human sacrifice.” (October 21)
In this thriller, “a group of strangers with tinnitus begins seeing numbers—numbers they soon realize are a code that will change the world.” (October 21)
“Two expertly crafted crime stories set in a far-future science fiction universe, from two award-winning authors known for their gripping plots and unforgettable characters—a short novel and a long novella that will thrill fans of space adventures, mystery, and intergalactic intrigue in this Saga Double.” (October 21)
“When mysterious drownings plague her small town, a detective haunted by her serial killer father must uncover whether revenge, ancient legends, or something darker lurks beneath the surface.” (October 21)
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last time.” (October 21)
“Following the end of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the Resistance rescues a ship full of young passengers who had been kidnapped by the First Order. As Finn and Jannah set out to find the First Order officer responsible before he can endanger any more children, the two former stormtroopers must wrestle with their own complicated pasts as soldiers of the oppressive regime.” (October 21)
“You’d think I’d have learned by now: don’t mouth off to deities. Don’t fall for the King of the Underworld. And definitely don’t get dragged into a divine death match where I’m the cursed mortal prize.” (October 21)
“Singapore, 1972: Newly independent and grappling for power in a fast-modernizing world. Here, gangsters in Chinese secret societies are the last conduits of their ancestors’ migrant gods, and the back alleys where they fight are the last place magic has not been assimilated and legislated away.” (October 21)
The Book of Dust Trilogy concludes: “Picking up right where The Secret Commonwealth left off, this story finds Lyra alone in a city haunted by daemons, searching for her beloved Pan. Malcolm Polstead isn’t far behind, searching for Lyra. And they are both racing toward the desert of Karamakan, following the trail of roses said to hold the secret of Dust.” (October 23)
“From the bestselling author of the Japanese sensation The Full Moon Coffee Shop, this charming and heartfelt novel showcases the magic of Christmas as lost souls find themselves—with a little help from an enchanted café run by cats.” (October 28)
“The sequel to Blood of the Old Kings is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it down.” (October 28)
“In this chilling follow-up to Blood Like Mine, one mother faces the ultimate supernatural horror: the monster she must become to protect her child.” (October 28)
“Packed with spicy romance, Greek mythology, and dangerous husbands, Bonds of Hercules is perfect for fans of tension, betrayal, and choosing sides.” Sequel to Blood of Hercules. (October 28)
“Humanity has reached the stars—as has corporate greed—but the discovery of an alien artifact will change everything in this epic first-contact story.” (October 28)
“A modern twist on the Faustian tale about a gilded street in a Pacific Northwest town where the charmed residents have made a frightening deal… resulting in devastating consequences.” (October 28)
“Great powers clash and epic action unfolds in book three of the Craft Wars series. The time until the end-times is ticking away. If the world has any hope of surviving, it must come together now.” (October 28)
“Within McKillip’s magical landscapes, a mermaid statue comes to life; princesses dance with dead suitors; a painting and a muse possess a youthful artist; seductive sea travelers enrapture distant lovers; a time-traveling angel endures religious madness; and an overachieving teenage mage discovers her own true name.” (October 28)
“A moving and genre-defying quest about the lady-knight whose legend built a nation, and the cowardly historian sent back through time to make sure she plays her part–even if it breaks his heart.”(October 28)
“A goddess awakens to a new world in the second thrilling book in the Witness series, continuing the iconic saga of the Malazan Book of the Fallen.” (October 28)
“Enter a new world of romantic fantasy—a journey of powerful magic, enemies-to-lovers, and political intrigue—as a warrior-princess and a vengeful king from rival fae courts form a fierce alliance to take down a merciless despot.” (October 28)
“Adam Binder’s life has never been better. Sure, he has no money, no car, no home to call his own, and he’s worried about creating a future with his boyfriend Vic, but he’s closer to his family than ever before. He’s also Page to the Elven Court of Swords, and that appointment is not without its perks—like the invisible sword strapped to his back. But on Halloween night, Adam’s life takes a disturbing turn. Annie, his brother’s long-lost wife, turns up on her husband’s doorstep alive and well, with no memory of her death. But is it really Annie, or a Trojan horse from some new magical enemy?” (October 28)
“From the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of Arrival comes a phenomenal speculative thriller about a federal agent and a therapist who team up to stop an otherworldly killer.” (October 28)
A true-crime podcaster sets out to investigate the decades-old case of an experimental artist who killed his family and himself after recording sounds at an abandoned military base. What she finds in his tapes is far more unsettling that she could have imagined. (October 28)
“In a remote castle perched atop a windswept island, a long-awaited royal heir is born. In accordance with ancient custom, a blessing ceremony takes place to bestow the princess with magical gifts—along with a terrible curse. But this is not the love story you may think you know … Just three women, who together concoct a desperate plan of misdirect that changes the course of all their lives.” (October 28)
“At a top-secret Army training facility in the Mojave Desert, Special Agents Scott Brodie and Maggie Taylor plunge into a deadly web of military intrigue, AI technology, and robot soldiers as they unravel the shocking murder of a senior scientist in this gripping thriller.” (October 28)
“The first book in the Reckoning Storm duology, To Bargain with Mortals is a stunning reflection on politics and purpose, blood and allegiance—and what we do with the histories we inherit.” (October 28)
“For sure no one expected the dead to rise, but they did. No one expected the mountain to fall either, but it did. No one expected an act of courage so great, and likewise so appalling, that it still staggers the heart and mind of anyone who knows anything about the Katanogos massif, to say nothing of Pillars Meadow.” (October 28)
“The outcast daughter of a powerful family of witches returns home to New York City and is immediately embroiled in a supernatural power struggle in this wickedly funny fantasy debut.” (October 28)
“Journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps, where two lost souls living in different centuries meet and discover if a second chance awaits them behind its doors.” (October 28)
“When a librarian discovers she’s descended from a long line of powerful witches, she’ll need all of her bookish knowledge to harness her family’s magic.” (October 28)
“In a deep medieval future, a band of players travels across France to perform the same old tales in the same old towns. When passing soldiers entrust them with a mysterious box that they say must be delivered to the Imperator, old playwright Master Guillaume and young escaped thief Rufus puzzle at what the box might contain. When Rufus overhears strange conversations between his Master Guillaume and the thing in the box, he must choose between his loyalty to the man who saved him from the noose and fear of the ancient intelligence working in their midst.” (October 31)
