Welcome friends and fiends! Here is an updating list of horror titles being released October 2026. This is a fairly comprehensive list of all things horror, including traditional, small press, and self-published works. I provide at least one link where you can find the book and purchase it directly.

Want to know what books I have on my TBR? The books with a featured cover at the top of each week are the books that I am planning to read!

This is a project I hope to do every month, with posts going up at the end of the month. My aim is to share the books I run into with my monthly scrolling and to have a venue to lift up authors. If you have a book releasing this month that you don’t see on the list, please feel free to leave a comment on this post so I can add your book to the list.

Note: I also added a few releases from the end of September that I missed in my last post.

October 1-4

Title	Author	Publisher	Tags
August	Jonathan Lees	Lethe Press	LGBTQ
Born of Malice	Xan van Rooyen	Ruadán Books	LGBTQ, Dark Fantasy
Buzzkill	Wendy Dalrymple	Cliffhanger	Slasher
CREAM	Jamie Juggs	Independent	LGBTQ, Body Horror
Dangling	Maura Yzmor	Anxiety Press	Short Stories
Deadfall Stories	Charlie Walls	Walls of Horror	Short Stories, Supernatural
First Blood, Last Girl	Matthew Doggett	Independent	Slasher
Gossamer	Brian Bowyer	Independently Published	Serial Killer, Transgressive
Invite the Devil In to Dance	Katie Brunecz	Killer Bat Books	Supernatural, Witches
Kinderlieb	Luisa Colon	Cemetery Dance Publications	Slasher
Nana: Freshly Baked Edition	Mark Towse	The Evil Cookie Publishing	Extreme
Petrified Dreams	Joe R. Lansdale	Little, Brown and Company	Crime
Pumpkin Guts	Brent Michael Kelley	Mystery Potion Books	Halloween, Monster
Sorrow Like Sour Candy: Stories	Chandler Morrison	Death’s Head Press	Short Stories
The Fall of Waadizi, Michigan (The Waadizi Cycle #3)	Dwight L MacPherson	Independently Published	Cosmic
The Monsters of Montague Falls	Russ Colchamiro, Sawney Hatton, Patrick Thomas	Crazy 8 Press	Monster, Vampire

October 5-11

Title	Author	Publisher	Tags
A Compendium of Supernatural Entities Found in the Government Girls Higher Secondary School	Kuzhali Manickavel	Angry Robot	Dark Academia, Fantasy
A Single Beat	Lily Cooke	Rabbit Tooth Press	Survival, Insects
American Crow	Ryan Burruss	Counterpoint	Gothic, Occult
Amityville Awakens	Robert P Ottone	CLASH Books	Supernatural
Apologies to the Morning	Greg Jones	Wild Ink Publishing	Poetry
Atomic Coffin	Benedict Anning	S&S/Saga Press	Aquatic, Cosmic, Cold War
Awful Big Appetite	Lissa Sharpe	Bayou Rose Press	Horromance
Behind the Gate	Amparo Davila	New Directions	Short Stories
Bruja’s Nest	Brenda LaTorre	Creature Publishing	Monster, Folk
Callisto	Steve Niles	The Lab Press	Graphic Novel, Sci-Fi, Cult
Camera Stays On	Tylor Paige	Page & Vine	Slasher, Horromance
Carrying	Samantha Josephs	G.P. Putnam’s Sons	LGBTQ, Feminist, Body Horror
Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: A Scream Queer Anthology	Kapri Psych	Inked in Gray	Anthology, Slasher
Count to Ten	Raúl Quintana Selleras	Wicked Ink Publishing	Serial Killer, Psychological Thriller
Dive Bar at the End of the Road	Kelley Armstrong	St. Martin’s Press	Supernatural
Find Me Where It Ends	Cassandra Khaw	Tor Nightfire	Occult, Psychological
Fitcher’s Bird	A.G. Slatter	Titan Books	Occult
Haunted Creatures	Katie Wilson	Black Island Books	Cosmic
Hear the Dead	Ann Dávila Cardinal	Sourcebooks Landmark	Supernatural, Crime
Home for the Holidays	Chloe Spencer	Independently Published	Horromance, Comedy
House Haunters	KC Jones	Tor Nightfire	Ghost
If the Dead Belong Here	Carson Faust	Penguin Books	Southern Gothic
Kill Your Darlings	Yuvashri Harish	G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers	YA, Witches, Gothic
Killing the Boogeyman	Richard Chizmar	Gallery Books	Serial Killer
Love and Other Cures for the Recently Undead	H.J. Ramsay	Red Rogue Press	Post-Apocalyptic
Monstrous Bitch: A History of Terrifying Women	Eleanor Johnson	Princeton University Press	Non-Fiction, Pop Culture, Feminism
Morsels (re-release)	Abe Moss	Evil Twin	Creepy Family
MrBallen Presents: The Terror Within	MrBallen & Andrea Mutti	Ten Speed Graphic	Graphic Novel
Night of a Thousand Hells	Intan Paramaditha	Europa Editions	Feminist, Gothic
Night of the Mallrats	Nicolina Torres	Harper Perennial	Time Travel, LGBTQ, Slasher
Other Worlds Than These: A Talisman Novel	Stephen King & Peter Straub	Scribner	Paranormal, Fantasy
Portrait of a Haunting	Madison Tyler Nelson	Berkley	Ghost
Quaint Folk	Bitter Karella	Run For It	LGBTQ, Satire
Raven	Lyndsay Faye	The Mysterious Press	Gothic, Historical, Occult
Red Ants	Kimberly Blaeser	Counterpoint	Indigenous, Short Stories
Return to the Motherfreaking Fun Factory	Neil Kleid	Blackstone	Coming of Age, Death Games
Season’s Reapings	Sylvain Johnson	Gallery Books	Christmas, Retelling
Stagtown: Volume 1	Punko	Ten Speed Graphic	Graphic Novel, Dystopia
Sorrow’s Fall	Danielle DeVor	City Owl Press	Humor, Demons
The Book of the Dead: An Anthology	Jonathan Strahan (editor), Various	Harper Voyager	Anthology, Supernatural
The Buddy Snatchers	Devin James Leonard	Crystal Lake Publishing	Psychological
The Finalist	Faith Gladwin	Grand Central Publishing	Gothic, LGBTQ
The House Built on Alligator Bones	Sophia Huneycutt	Dutton	Southern Gothic
The Phantom Reflex	Fred Tippett II	Trinity Power Productions	YA, Occult
The Witch	Freida McFadden	Poisoned Pen Press	Ghost, Thriller
There’s a Monster in the Lake: The World as a Fantastical Place	Laura Fernández	Graywolf Press	Non-Fiction, Cryptids
What Feeds Below	Tatiana Schlote-Bonne	Bindery Books	YA
What Happens at Nightfall	Lauren Willig	William Morrow	Supernatural, Paranormal Romance
Winter’s Teeth	R.A. Betzer	Rowan Prose	Shifters, Paranormal
Winterset Hollow	Jonathan Edward Durham	Union Square & Co.	Psychological
Your Beloved Remains	Quinn Connor	Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar	LGBTQ, Psychological, Gothic
Be Not Afraid and Other Stories	Phillip Keeling	Independently Published	Short Stories

October 12-18

Title	Author	Publisher	Tags
A Darker Act	Amy Goldsmith	Delacorte Press	YA, Folk, Romance
Another Name for Red	Amber Blaeser-Wardzala	Pantheon	Indigenous
Below	Ryan Lockwood	Kensington	Aquatic
Don’t Leave Her Alone	Desirée de Fez	G.P. Putnam’s Sons	Surreal, Motherhood
Don’t Let It Out	N.A. Betts	Legend Forge Press	Eco-Horror
Extremely Weird Splatter	L. Andrew Cooper (editor), Various	Horrific Scribblings	Anthology, Splatterpunk
Ghosts of the Void (NecroTek #3)	Jonathan Maberry	Blackstone Publishing	Cosmic
Good Boys Don’t Bite	L.A. Barron	Contrarian Publishing	Vampire, LGBTQ
Gutterspace	Justine Norton-Kertson	Stars and Sabers Publishing	Cosmic
Hideout	Masasumi Kakizaki	Kana	Human Monsters, Manga
Highway Fifty: Choose Your Own Descent	Ryan McMurray	Where We Lay Our Scene Press	Psychological
Highway of Haunts	Heather Daughrity (editor), Varios	Watertower Hill Publishing	Short Story Anthology
I Am The Devouring Dark	Kimberly Lynn Hanson	Independently Published	Horromance, Fantasy
It Looks Like You in the Dark	Mathilda Zeller	Tor Nightfire	Indigenous, Folk, Alaska
Long Lost	Matthew Erman & Lisa Sterle	Vault Comics	Graphic Novel
Look What the Cat Dragged	Jason Rekulak	Flatiron Books	Ghost, Psychological
Monstera	Delilah S. Dawson	Titan Books	Gothic, Sapphic, LGBTQ
Monsters: Unsettling Short Stories	Russell Smith	Rare Machines	Short Stories
Mystery Play	Elizabeth Kostova	Ballantine Books	Vampire
Of Monsters and Menses	Maisie Culver	Shortwave	Short Stories
Off the Reservation	Stephen Graham Jones	S&S/Saga Press	Indigenous, Supernatural
Rottenheart	Kat Dunn	Zando	LGBTQ, Hamlet
Serling: A Journey Into the Twilight Zone with TV’s First Visionary	Alan Sepinwall	Grand Central Publishing	Non-Fiction, Pop Culture
Solace House	Will Maclean	Grove Press	Psychological, Occult
Something Is Killing the Children: Hope Is a Knife	James Tynion IV & Kiersten White	Crown	Monsters, Urban Fantasy
Stormraven	Kelsea Yu	Gallery Books	Gothic, Asian
The Creeps	Michael Paul Kozlowsky	Keylight Books	Ghost
The Doctor Will See You Now	Tom Carter	Rowan Prose	Thriller
This B Just Won’t Die!	Tanya Pell	Gallery Books	Slasher
The Elegance of Decay	Stoney Brooks	WLR Publishing	Creature
The Exodontists	Drew Huff	Nefarious Bat Press	Creature
The Forest Bleeds	Rachel Kitch	Union Square & Co.	Urban Fantasy
The Patch	V S Lawrence	Mad Axe Media	YA, Supernatural
The Water House	Nneoma Ike-Njoku	S&S/Summit Books	Gothic
The Woman of the House	Kate Mooney	Berkley	Supernatural Thriller
Threnody	Cas E. Crowe	Independently Published	Gothic
To Bewitch a Hunter	Luciano Lamberti	HarperVia	Literary
‘Twas the Night	Kevin Johnson	William Morrow	Christmas, Cults
Unspeakable Things	Elizabeth Hand	Little, Brown and Company	LGBTQ, Gothic
What a Nightmare	Rebekah Faubion	Berkley	LGBTQ, Female Rage
When the World Stopped	Wayne Fenlon & Jennifer Bernardini (editors), Various	Independent	Apocalyptic, Anthology

October 19-25

Title	Author	Publisher	Tags
A Knight on Wolf Island	Ray Tigerman	River Grove Books	Creature
Always Say Goodbye	Andrew Clear	Dark Phyre Books	Psychological
Angel Country	Alex T. Singer	S&S/Saga Press	Alternate History, Cosmic
Creatures & Corridors (The Lab Portable Edition)	Brandon Auman, Andrea Mutti	The Lab Press	Graphic Novel, Fantasy
Devilry in Godling Wood	Coy Hall	Sentinel Creatives	Historical, Folk, Medieval
Did You Get the Package?	John Harrison	Seventh Street Books	Psychological, Thriller
Ebenezer Scrooge: Ghost Hunter	J. S. Barnes	Titan Books	Humor, Historical
Endless Levels of Horror (no link)	J.M. Van Horn	Independent	Short Stories
Excruciating	David Ward	Resolute Lantern Media	Medical
Exequial: Exhumed	Hannah Graves	Dead Fox Publishing	Short Stories
Exhumation	Nicholas Binge	Riverhead	Sci-Fi, Psychological
Ghost Lights: Horror Short Stories	Mark Morris (editor), Various	Flame Tree Press	Anthology
Gore, Lust & Kin: Stories of Women on the Brink	Suzanne Mattaboni	Madville Publishing	Short Stories
Happy Hour (Killer VHS #9)	Gemma Amor	Shortwave	90s, Slasher
Horror Picture Book: A Bad Book	Miyuki Miyabi, Hisanori Yoshida	VIZ Media	Picture Book
Horror Picture Book: Is It There or Not	Natsuhiko Kyogoku, Naoko Machida	VIZ Media	Picture Book
Horror Picture Book: Looking at Me	Soshichi Tonari, Junji Ito	VIZ Media	Picture Book
Lethal Kiss	Taylor Grothe	Tor Nightfire	Gothic, Occult, LGBTQ, Revenge
Mercy House	Adam Cesare	Del Rey	Ghost, Splatterpunk
Milkteeth	Caitlin Starling	St. Martin’s Press	Vampire
Mr. Moonlight	Ben Cheetham	Vinci Books	Ghost
Needlemouth	K-Ming Chang	Simon & Schuster	Coming of Age, Vampire, Demon
Pretty Bird	Hilary Faktor	Rowan Prose	TAGS
Rise From These Dark Waters	Megan M. Davies-Ostrom	Bad Hand Books	Horror Fantasy
Seeds Between Her Teeth	M. Boudreaux	Independently Published	Supernatural
Tatratea	Alex Woodroe	CLASH Books	Eco-Horror
The Crimson Traveler	Matt Strollo	Left Field Publishing	Werewolf, Noir
The Crow Tree	Ben Cheetham	Vinci Books	Gothic, Witches
The Death of Blockbuster	Sam Rebelein	Sobelo Books	Small Town
The Finalist	Faith Gladwin	Grand Central Publishing	Supernatural
The Haunting of Lavender House	Natalie Kikic	Park Row	Gothic, Folk
The Skeleton Closet: 13 Tales of the Weird and Wicked	J.R. Blanes	Dark Nest Publishing	Short Stories
The Turning of Sally-Mae	Nuzo Onoh	Titan Books	Occult, Supernatural, Revenge
The Witching House	John Everson	Flame Tree Press	Ghost
Visceral: Essays	María Fernanda Ampuero	The Feminist Press at CUNY	Non-Fiction, Feminist
We Are Good People	Danger Slater	Tenebrous Press	TAGS
What the Forest Devours	Elaine Vilar Madruga	HarperVia	Gothic, Feminist
When the Night Comes Knocking	Katherine Daniel	Berkley	Vampire
Wolf Season	Wesley King	Atria/Emily Bestler Books	Supernatural, Mystery
Hecate’s Labyrinth	Michael Lightsey	New Forest Press	Mythology, Witch

October 26-31

Title	Author	Publisher	Tags
DJ Decapitator	Zed Dee	Independently Published	Sci-Fi
Dreamrot	Alix J Kampen	Independent	Short Stories
Eve’s Still Dead	Amy Tackett	Independently Published	Christmas
From the Library of Jurgen Leitner	Premee Mohamed & Jonathan Sims	Random House Worlds	Occult, Eldritch
Going to Summertime	Kaaron Warren	Meerkat Press	Haunted Houses
Love Never Dies: Romance in Horror Movies	Emma Cole	Beacon	Non-Fiction, Horror Movies
Nightcats	Kristen J. Sollée	Feral Eye	Vampire, Feminist
YA
Phantom Limb	Brian Evenson	Coffee House Press	Psychological
Public Access Afterworld	Jane Schoenbrun	Hogarth	Occult, Supernatural
Richard-Lael Lillard and the Great Mountain	Lorin Morgan-Richards	Raven Above Press	Savage Lake	Nick Medina	Berkley	Vampire
Scorpion Deep	CG Drews	Feiwel & Friends	Young Adult, Aquatic, Eldritch
She Isn’t Herself Tonight	Hailey Piper	S&S/Saga Press	Cosmic
The House on Lochness Lane	T. Atkins	DesKor	Haunted House
The Imitations: A Short Story	Ottessa Moshfegh	Rapture Publishing	Short Story
The Last Light	A.S. North	Independently Published	Coming of Age, Vampires
The Night Parade and Other Stories	Stephanie Feldman	Fairwood Press	YA, Dark Fantasy
The Porcelain Sisters	Daryl Gregory	Tachyon Publications	Coming of Age
The Things That Haunt You	E.A. Griffith	Independently Published	Creature
The Wax Child	Olga Ravn	New Directions	Witches
This Darkness Caged Inside Us	Zach Constable	Independently Published	Grief
Velvet Saints	Christal Gonzalez	Independently Published	Vampire, Paranormal Romance, Mob, 1920s
What Rough Beast	Mindy McGinnis	HarperCollins	YA, Speculative

Disclaimer: Each title is linked to a store front where books may be purchased, this includes Amazon, publisher websites, and Godless.com. Please note that I am an Amazon Affiliate, so links to Amazon store fronts will use my affiliate links. Purchases made through any affiliate links help me keep this blog running.