“In the house behind the sword ferns, there was a man, and a murderer, and a stain.” Kylie Lee Baker, the author of Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng, builds a beautifully haunting tale in her latest horror novel, Japanese Gothic, which came out in April. The title of this novel is, I assume, playing upon Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s highly successful Mexican Gothic, which heralded the current resurgence of the Gothic in popular horror literature. But while Mexican Gothic is a sweeping tale of family drama, generational sins, and colonialism, Japanese Gothic is a quieter story in which the entangled lives of an American college dropout and a young samurai woman play out in a small house tucked away at the edge of reality. Continue reading Review of Japanese Gothic—Beautiful Hauntings
Review of Morsel—Anti-Capitalist Folk Horror
Don’t let your job consume your life. That’s a good reminder we all could probably use, but for the protagonist of Carter Keane’s debut horror novella, Morsel, it’s a dire warning that should be taken very literally. The gorgeous cover first drew me to this book, which came out a few weeks ago, but it was the suspenseful narration style and creepy folk horror atmosphere that had me devouring it over the course of a weekend. Continue reading Review of Morsel—Anti-Capitalist Folk Horror
Review of Wolf Worm—Entomological Horror
How much do you know about botflies? If you’ve got a squeamish stomach about bugs and body horror, don’t look them up. These creepy parasites—which are horrifying enough in real life—become true fodder for nightmares in the hands of one of my favorite horror writers, T. Kingfisher. I’ve often admired the way Kingfisher brings out the horror in the natural world, from infectious fungi in What Moves the Dead to unexpectedly alarming ladybugs in A House with Good Bones. In her latest book, Wolf Worm, which came out last month, she takes it a step further by diving deep into the world of parasitic insects. In the end, though, it is human cruelty more than nature’s parasites that represents the true horror of this story. Continue reading Review of Wolf Worm—Entomological Horror
Review of Nobody’s Baby—An Anti-Murder Mystery
What’s the opposite of a murder mystery? If murder is the criminal and unexpected loss of life, then the inverse must be the criminal and unexpected creation of life. Detective Dorothy Gentleman investigates just that in the form of a surprise baby among the strictly sterile population of a generation ship in the second installment of Olivia Waite’s new cozy sci-fi mystery series. I reviewed the first book Murder by Memory when it came out last spring. Now Dorothy returns to take on an even stranger case in Nobody’s Baby, which came out last month. Continue reading Review of Nobody’s Baby—An Anti-Murder Mystery
Review of Night of the Mannequins—Slashers vs Superheroes
“We thought we’d play a fun prank on her, and now most of us are dead, and I’m really starting to feel kind of guilty about it all…” Stephen Graham Jones writes some killer opening lines. If you’ve been following this blog lately, you’ll know that Jones is swiftly becoming one of my favorite horror writers, especially with his recent masterpiece The Buffalo Hunter Hunter. But Jones is a prolific writer who had published over a dozen books before his star really started to rise. Now that his writing is getting the attention it deserves, his publisher is very cleverly re-releasing some of his earlier books that flew under the radar. One of those is the novella Night of the Mannequins, which initially came out in 2020 amidst the chaos of the pandemic, but got a second chance with a new release this past February. And I’m glad it did! Reading this fun little slasher tale now, you can see Stephen Graham Jones playing around with ideas that he would explore more deeply in later books like My Heart Is a Chainsaw and I Was a Teenage Slasher. Continue reading Review of Night of the Mannequins—Slashers vs Superheroes
Review of A Dark and Drowning Tide—Jewish Romantasy
Looking for some sapphic Jewish romantasy with a historical- and folklore-inspired setting and an edge of dark academia? A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft has it all! Somehow I missed reading this one back when it first came out in 2024, but a friend recommended that I bump it up my TBR pile and I’m very glad I did. A Dark and Drowning Tide scratched an itch that no book has since I last read some Naomi Novik. Continue reading Review of A Dark and Drowning Tide—Jewish Romantasy
Review of The Red Winter—Werewolves in Revolutionary France
A man-eating beast stalks the impoverished countryside of Gévaudan, France. Only Professor Sebastian Grave, who defeated it once before, knows the beast’s true nature and why it seems to have returned. Cameron Sullivan crafts a brilliant reimagining of the historical legend of the Beast of Gévaudan, inspiration for many a modern werewolf tale, in his impressive debut fantasy, The Red Winter, out tomorrow from Tor! Continue reading Review of The Red Winter—Werewolves in Revolutionary France
Review of The Villa, Once Beloved—Filipino Gothic
“The villa, once beloved, was better left behind in all its tragedies.” You can try to escape a family curse, but in the end the sins of your past will always find you. A young woman named Sophie becomes a reluctant witness to just this sort of Gothic reckoning in The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo, which came out back in November. I loved Victor’s debut sci-fi thriller The Sleepless, so when I heard he was writing a Gothic novel set in his homeland of the Philippines, I knew I had to check it out! The Villa, Once Beloved does a beautiful job of blending classic Gothic tropes with Filipino folklore, a suffocating tropical setting, and the region’s dark history of colonialism and political corruption. Continue reading Review of The Villa, Once Beloved—Filipino Gothic
Review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter—Vampires in the Wild West
“What I am is the Indian who can’t die. I’m the worst dream America ever had.” Much blood was spilled forming the American West into what it is today, so perhaps it should be no surprise this setting would make such fertile ground for a vampire tale. When I heard that Stephen Graham Jones—who has quickly become one of my favorite horror authors (check out my reviews of The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, and I Was a Teenage Slasher)—was coming out with a historical vampire novel, I knew it would be right up my alley. When The Buffalo Hunter Hunter came out last March, I went to a release event at The Strand in New York City and got a signed copy of the special edition with red sprayed edges. I savored the book slowly all through the fall until last week when I got to the point where I had to stay up until 1:00am to see how it would end. Though this is my very first book review of 2026, I can already tell that The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is going to end up on my favorites of the year list. Continue reading Review of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter—Vampires in the Wild West
Books I’m Excited for in 2026
The new year is already well under way, but there’s still plenty of time to add to your 2026 TBR! As I like to do every year, I have combed through book announcements and publishers’ lists to bring you ten of my most anticipated releases for the year. The titles below range from pure horror to fantasy to cozy sci-fi, with some dashes of mystery and romance.
But before I dive into my list, I first want to note that January has been dubbed International Gothic Reading Month by the Society for the Study of the American Gothic. A committee of Gothic fiction authors have put together an extensive reading list and are spending the month encouraging more people to experience the somber joys of Gothic literature. Check out their home page here, and peruse their suggested readings while you wait for the books below to be released. Here at The Gothic Library, every month is Gothic Reading Month, but I’d love to see IGRM get more people into the genre! And now, onto this year’s new releases that I am most excited for: Continue reading Books I’m Excited for in 2026