#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 2 Must Add ARCs from Poisoned Pen Press

Today I have two advanced copies (for 1 winner) from Poisoned Pen Press, both due to come out in April of 2026. These are going to have wide appeal. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Last week's winner was Rosemarie from AZ. Now on to this week's giveaway.

Poisoned Pen Press is an imprint of Sourcebooks and they are putting out some of the most accessible and popular horror for a general reading audience. Their titles are how many of today's readers discover horror for the first time, especially female horror readers and library users.

I am very excited to share 2 of their April 2026 titles here today. One person will win both ARCs, but all of you should use the links to learn more and get these titles on order ASAP.

First up, We Call Them Witches by India-Rose Bower:

For fans of The Watchers and T. Kingfisher comes a queer, post-apocalyptic horror following one woman's journey across a merciless wasteland to save her brother and confront the dark truth behind the monsters that ravaged the world - with the help of a woman she's not sure she can trust but can't help falling for. 

 Nearly everyone died the first night they came… 

Two years ago, monstrous beings tore through Britain, leaving few survivors. Now Sara and her family live on the run, relying on scraps of folklore and fading pagan rituals to stay safe from the eldritch creatures they call "witches". 

 While her mother grows increasingly paranoid, Sara longs for something more than fear.

Then a strange girl appears in the garden of their current camp. Her name is Parsley, and she cannot remember where she came from or why she's there. Despite her family's suspicions, Sara feels drawn to her.

But when Sara's younger brother is taken by the Witches, she and Parsley must cross desolate moors full of merciless terrors to get him back. As their bond deepens, so do the dangers they face—and Sara begins to question whether anything is truly as it seems.

In a world ruled by terror and myth, trust is the only thing more dangerous than the Witches themselves.

Second, Death Meets Cute by J. Penner:

 "Filled with so much love, heart, and delicious baked goods." —Rebecca Thorne, USA Today bestselling author of Can't Spell Treason Without Tea

I am more than capable of being evil today. I think…

Iris Weyward wants to be bad. Truly bad. Terrifyingly, gloriously villainous. But after helping her sisters unleash a spell to throw the realm into chaos, Iris is left feeling strangely empty—and still not the villain of her dreams. So, she sets off for the quiet town of Fraywell to build her wicked legacy alone.

Things start promisingly: a crooked little cottage, a reputation for curses and potions, and a healthy dose of fear from the locals. But when her ogre bodyguard disappears, Iris needs new muscle. Good thing a fearsome orc just toppled over in her yard. Naturally, she decides to reanimate him. It's a perfect solution. 

Only, Talon isn't the brooding warrior she was hoping for. He's gentle. He bakes. Worst of all, he's nice. But Iris can't possibly have a thing for her new employee. She's supposed to be the most wicked witch in town!

While Iris struggles to turn Talon into the enforcer she deserves, her sisters arrive seeking help—their magic is fading, and the cause may be closer than any of them realize. The timing couldn't be worse, and falling for an orc wasn't supposed to be part of her villain era, but it might turn out to be the best spell she's ever cast…

Remember, when you enter once, you are entered going forward until you win.

I will have 1 more giveaway this year and then I will be back the first week of January with a giveaway of a book from my January 2026 LJ column.

Good Luck!  

#HorrorForLibraries: 3 Fall ARCs from Flame Tree Press

Today I have two finished copies for two winners of a volume featuring many authors whose work you have on your sleeves, presented by a trusted editor, and part of a series of books which I have reviewed titles from in the past. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Last week's winners were Nancy from VA and John from MI.

Now on to this week's giveaway which features a three book prize pack courtesy of Flame Tree Press

After the 31 Days of Horror, I still had a backlog of ARCs to giveaway and in this case, all three books have already released, but the title themselves are worth you knowing about, so I am giving them all away at once, to one very lucky winner.

First up An Echo of Children by the great Ramsey Campbell:

A slow burn, chilling horror in a gorgeous edition. Ramsey Campbell always delivers... 

Coral and Allan Clarendon have just moved to the seaside town of Barnwall with their young son Dean. If an uncommon number of children have died unnaturally in Barnwall throughout history, surely Dean must be safe with his parents. Could their house be a source of peril? Allan and Coral seem to think so, since they call for an exorcism. Allan’s father Thom believes his wife is wrong to think the ceremony has left Dean in worse danger. But if she’s alone in seeing the terrors that are gathering around him, how desperate will her solution have to be?

The Ramsey Campbell Special Editions. Campbell is the greatest inheritor of a tradition that reaches back through H.P. Lovecraft and M.R. James to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and the early Gothic writers. The dark, masterful work of the painter Henry Fuseli, a friend of Mary Wollstonecraft, is used on these special editions to invoke early literary investigations into the supernatural.

Next it is Unseen Gods by Justin Holley:

Careful what you search for, you may just find it. With grotesque glimpses of the disappeared, the past is alive and well.

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 with very little hope of finding anyone or anything. When one of their factions disappears without a trace, Kory and Colista fear the past may repeat itself. Then the deaths start. As a savage, unexpected snowstorm sets in, the disappearances and ungodly sightings of the deceased ramp up, and an old woman rambles about end-of-days and sacrifice.

And finally, Opposite World by Elizabeth Anne Martins:

Memories are malleable, dreams are a battlefield, and reality is a shifting landscape. Think Inception meets Dark Matter, with echoes of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the unsettling corporate dystopia of Severance.

Piper “Pip” Screed remembers nothing about her mother’s mysterious death or the strange episode that left her in a deep, unexplained sleep. All she knows is that her father uprooted them to a secluded mountain cabin, severed all ties to the outside world, and refuses to answer her questions.

Fifteen years later, Pip escapes isolation and discovers The Reverie Cloud—a revolutionary sleep-therapy program that merges the subconscious with virtual reality. Here, users can experience their desires, confront fears, and rewrite their pasts in a dreamscape indistinguishable from reality. But when The Reverie Cloud falls into the hands of those who see her subconscious as a prize, Pip becomes ensnared within its unstable architecture. Now locked inside the program, she must navigate its mercurial layers, face the horrors buried within her subconscious, and unravel the truth about her past before time runs out. Worse, she’s not the only one at risk—her father’s life hangs in the balance, too.

But the deeper Pip ventures, the more dangerous the game becomes. If she pushes too far, she may never escape. Yet only by confronting the truth can she hope to uncover what really happened to her mother—before the program consumes her entirely.

Blending science fiction with psychological horror, surreal fantasy, and an aching tremor of human longing, OPPOSITE WORLD is an exploration of memory, identity, and the thin divide between perception and reality. 

As I said above, all three are advanced copies, courtesy of the publisher. These books are out and available thought Ingram to add to your library's collection.

One winner will get all three ARCs.

Enter once and you are entered going forward.

Good luck!

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 2 winners of Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao, Edited by Aaron J. French

Today I have two finished copies for two winners of a volume featuring many authors whose work you have on your sleeves, presented by a trusted editor, and part of a series of books which I have reviewed titles from in the past. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Last week's winner was Jessica from IN. Now on to this week's giveaway.

Today I want to talk about author and editor, Aaron J. French, specially his work taking Lovecraftian Gods and asking a diverse group of today's authors to write new and original to him stories for his anthologies.

I have read and reviewed (for Booklist) The Gods of H.P Lovecraft and The Demons of King Solomon. Click through to read my reviews of each anthology and to see the impressive contributors.

This Fall, French released Azathoth: Ordo ab Chao. From the publisher description:

The first in a series of anthologies devoted to the Lovecraftian gods, Ordo ab Chao follows the highly successful The Gods of HP Lovecraft (published in 2015 by JournalStone Publishing). We begin our series with the primal origins and the god Azathoth, who represents primordial chaos in the Lovecraftian Mythos. H.P. Lovecraft described Azathoth as a demon king ruling from a dark throne in the middle of the fiery cosmic void, out of which all created things emanated. Surrounding this orbiting spiral of infinite chaos and creation sounded the repetitive notes of an incessant flute, a reference to the Greek god Pan and the symbol of chaos behind the orderliness of nature. Taking this as our departure, the stories in this volume approach Azathoth through the concept of "order out of chaos" (or Ordo ab Chao in Latin). Ordo ab Chao includes new work from some of the most talented and respected authors in horror and dark fantasy, featuring stories from T. Kingfisher, Ruthanna Emrys, Adam L. G. Nevill, Kaaron Warren, Brian Evenson, Donald Tyson, Richard Thomas, Richard Gavin, Matthew Cheney, Erica Ruppert, Jamieson Ridenhour, Maxwell I. Gold, Lena Ng, Nathan Carson, Samuel Marzioli, Lauri Taneli Lassila, Akis Linardos, and R. B. Payne.

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

• ORDO AB CHAO: TOWARD THAT ENDLESSNESS by Maxwell Ian Gold
• “Agent of Chaos” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• AGENT OF CHAOS by T. Kingfisher
• “Expatriate” illustrated by Yves Tourigny
• EXPATRIATE by Jamieson Ridenhour 
• “...And Peer Aloft to Glimpse Some Fragment” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar .
• ..AND PEER ALOFT TO GLIMPSE SOME FRAGMENT by Ruthanna Emrys
• “Making a Difference” illustrated by Ayham Jabr
• MAKING A DIFFERENCE by Brian Evenson
• “The Recreationist” illustrated by Ayham Jabr 
• THE RECREATIONIST by Kaaron Warren
• “The Blind God’s Game” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE BLIND GOD’S GAME by Matthew Cheney
• “In the Grove” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• IN THE GROVE by Erica Ruppert
• “Church of the Void” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• CHURCH OF THE VOID by Donald Tyson
• “Upon an Iron Bed, Under the Eyes of Chaos” illustrated by Sofiya
• UPON AN IRON BED, UNDER THE EYES OF CHAOS by Richard Gavin
• “The Root King” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• THE ROOT KING by Lauri Taneli Lassila
• “The Infinite Beat” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE INFINITE BEAT by Nathan Carson
• “The Door at 21 Bis Rue Xavier Privas” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• THE DOOR AT 21 BIS RUE XAVIER PRIVAS by R. B. Payne
• “An Unusual Pedigree” illustrated by Andrej Kapcar
• AN UNUSUAL PEDIGREE by Richard Thomas
• “Dust-Clotted Eyes” illustrated by Ayham Jabr
• DUST-CLOTTED EYES by Samuel Marzioli
• “The Revelations of Azathoth” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• THE REVELATIONS OF AZATHOTH by Lena Ng
• “Primordial Jack” illustrated by Sofiya Kruglikova
• PRIMORDIAL JACK by Akis Linardos
• “Respect Your Elders” illustrated by Yves Tourigny
• RESPECT YOUR ELDERS by Adam L. G. Nevill

Look at the TOC! These are names you know, some of your most popular horror voices, and plenty that will be new to you and your patrons.

While that TOC alone is enough for you to add this book, what I really love about all of the anthologies French has edited is that he introduces today's horror readers to the Lovecraftian Gods, allowing us all to see why they are enduringly terrifying, and making sure their horrible human of a creator is paired with a diverse group of today's voices (which I hope is making Lovecraft roll over in his grave).

It is the responsible way to present this man and his work. We cannot ignore that Lovecraft is responsible for creating some of the best horror of the 20th Century. We cannot also ignore that his work has inspired and continues to inspire many of today's authors-- especially many who come from he marginalized communities who Lovecraft actively and publicly expressed his hate for. Take The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle and House of Bone and Rain by Gabino Iglesias for example. These are two works that have been nominated for major awards and both actively grapple with Lovecraft's racism in their works.

Thanks to JournalStone I have 2 finished copies that 2 winners will be able to add to their collections. But everyone should check out all three anthologies mentioned in this post and consider adding them to your horror collections.

Good luck!

The giveaway is off next week for Thanksgiving.

#HorrorForLibraries Giveaway: 3 Finished Books You Probaly Missed For 1 Winner

After a month of 31 Days of Horror where I had giveaways scattered throughout the month, and then a week off last week so I could recover, the regularly scheduled Thursday giveaway is back and this time I am giving 1 winner, 3 finished books that I think are worth adding to your collection, titles you probably missed. Details below but first, here are the rules on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Now on to this week's giveaway.

I would like to highlight 3 very different books, all of them wroth adding to your libraries collection, all titles you probably missed during this busy Fall. And I said above, I have finished copies of all three. I am asking you to add them to your collections if you win. But I am also asking you to consider ordering them for your collections even if you do not.

Let's start with the one you might have already-- Psychopomp & Circumstance by Bram Stoker Award winner Eden Royce which was released by Tor on 10/21/25. From Goodreads:

Ignyte and Mythopoeic Award-winning author Eden Royce pens a Southern Gothic historical fantasy story of a contentious funeral in her adult fiction debut.

Phee St. Margaret is a daughter of the Reconstruction, born to a family of free Black business owners in New Charleston. Coddled to within an inch of her life by a mother who refuses to let her daughter live a life other than the one she dictates, Phee yearns to demonstrate she's capable of more than simply marrying well.

When word arrives that her Aunt Cleo, long estranged from the family, has passed away, Phee risks her mother's wrath to step up and accept the role of pomp―the highly honored duty of planning the funeral service. Traveling alone to the town of Horizon and her aunt's unsettling home, Phee soon discovers that visions and shadows beckon from every reflective surface, and that some secrets transcend the borders of life and death.

Next up a small press title by an author on the rise-- White Flight by Peter O'Keefe. It's a haunted house novella that tackles racism head on. From Goodreads:

Joel and Willow Ward are white. Their Black teenage daughter, adopted at birth, was just killed by the police. 

Now, their house is trying to kill them, and the grieving parents are trying to understand why. And survive the night.

Early Praise for White Flight!

“White Flight by Peter O’Keefe opened with a roar and then I couldn’t work my finger fast enough to keep up. A married couple attempts to navigate an unspoken tragedy haunting every corner of their dream house - and every layer of their dreams. But there’s an undercurrent of racial disquiet lingering in the air that kept me on edge, like I was waiting on the other shoe to drop. O’Keefe deftly sets the landscape and paints a picture of a home wrapped in overwhelming sadness and dysfunction, but he also builds an unsettling suspense that makes you clench your throat because you just know there’s something else there. And there is...something else.” — Kenya Moss-Dyme, author of SEED

“This is not your ordinary haunted house story. It’s the starkly beautiful, heart-wrenching tale of a white couple who lose their black daughter in a tragic accident. A display of love so well-meaning that it becomes caustic, and even with the best of intentions, every decision they make leads to something more horrific than they could ever imagine. Peter O’Keefe’s book will wreck your soul, and you will stand up and applaud him fiercely for doing so!” — Jill Girardi, Author and Owner of Kandisha Press

“A brutal look at the tensions of American racism, O’Keefe’s White Flight is a lightning-paced haunted house tale that asks hard questions. The novella holds up a mirror to white America. Those brave enough to look are in for a hell of a ride.” —Elizabeth Broadbent, author of BLOOD CYPRESS

And finally something completely different-- Hard Case Crime Comics #34. Minky Woodcock: The Girl Called Cthulhu a graphic novel by Cynthia von Buhler. From Goodreads:  

The plucky detective returns in her thrilling third graphic novel, this time with an occult horror twist!

Sensational artist Cynthia von Buhler melds her glorious illustrations with the eldritch elements of HP Lovecraft and Aleister Crowley.

Inspired by a true WWII maritime operation, shocking satanic events, monstrous men, and one salacious sea creature, this volume tells the tale of Minky’s encounter with legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, creator of the dreaded Cthulhu. 

Following the death of Harry Houdini, Minky is approached by the occultist and writer Aleister Crowley to help vindicate him from an accusation of murder. This throws Minky into an occult underworld and leads to a much bigger investigation involving a missing man and Britain's secret service. Meanwhile, Lovecraftian horrors plague her dreams, and it’s up to Minky to discover the connections between the two writers and the mysterious death of her mother. Based on an actual WWII maritime operation inspired by a detective novel, Minky discovers how writers, including Ian Fleming, helped end WWII.

From the mind of lauded artist, author, and playwright, Cynthia von Buhler, this third installment in the gumshoe detective series takes the thrills and twists to new heights!

All three finished books for 1 winner!

Enter now and you are entered going forward.

31 Days of Horror: Day 31-- The Summer Scares 2026 Spokesperson Is....

As we have done every year since the program inception, the Summer Scares Committee is announcing our next Spokesperson on Halloween. This year we welcome NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer McMahon!

This also marks the end of my 31 day blog-a-thon, but of course, not the end of me talking to you about helping your horror readers. Thank you for going on this journey with me yet again. I hope you had as much fun as I did and that you learned something about the scariest genre that will make it easier for you to help readers going forward.

Happy Halloween to all!

Click on the image to access 
a folder with the logo graphics

HWA ANNOUNCES SUMMER SCARES READING PROGRAM 2026 Spokesperson and Timeline 

The Horror Writers Association (HWA), in partnership with Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD, and NoveList®, a division of EBSCO Information Services (EBSCO), is proud to announce the eighth annual Summer Scares, a reading program that provides libraries and schools with an annual list of recommended horror titles for adult, young adult (teen), and middle-grade readers.

Summer Scares is proud to announce the 2026 spokesperson, New York Times Bestselling author, Jennifer McMahon:

"When I was a kid, I checked a book out of my local library that had a spell in the back to become a werewolf. I was a freaky, monster-loving girl, not sure how I fit into the world. I thought it would be easier to grow fangs and claws than to deal with all the messy human stuff. I cast the spell, not missing a single step, and was profoundly disappointed when it didn’t work. But there was other magic on those library shelves: doors to other worlds; worlds where ghosts and monsters and terrible things waited for me and taught me not just to face my own fears, but to come out on the other side stronger and maybe with a better understanding of myself. Turns out I don’t need to go full-on werewolf to feel changed—I just need to lose myself is a great spooky story. So I’m thrilled to be here with Summer Scares, inviting you to come on this reading journey with me—transformation into a werewolf not guaranteed!”

McMahon, along with a committee of six library workers, will select three recommended fiction titles in each reading level, totaling nine Summer Scares selections. The program aims to encourage a conversation at libraries worldwide about the horror genre across all age levels and ultimately attract more adults, teens, and children interested in reading. Official Summer Scares designated authors will also make themselves available to public and school libraries.

The committee’s final selections will be announced on February 14, 2026, Library Lover’s Day. McMahon, along with some of the selected authors, will kick off Summer Scares at the 10th Annual HWA Librarians’ Day (Friday, June 5, 2026) during StokerCon® 2026 at the Westin Pittsburgh. Click here for more information.

Additional content, including podcast appearances, free webinars with Booklist, and lists of suggested titles for further reading, will be made available by the committee and its partners beginning early in 2026 and continuing through the Spring and Summer. Of special note is the annual Summer Scares Programming Guide, courtesy of HWA Library Committee Co-Chair Konrad Stump and the Springfield-Greene County Library.

“The 2026 guide, developed by the HWA’s Library Advisory Council, is packed with everything library workers need to engage their communities with these great titles, including an iREAD partner title in each age group” states Stump. “From ideas for author events, partner programs with University of Pittsburgh Library Systems, book discussion groups, and much more, this guide is the library worker’s roadmap to creating exciting and meaningful experiences for their patrons through Summer Scares that they can use as a jumping off point for future horror-themed programming.” 

 The guide will be available beginning March 1, 2026, on the Summer Scares Resource page here. 

To see past year’s Summer Scares titles, spokespeople, and programming guides, please visit the program archive here. Keep your eyes peeled for more updates coming soon from Booklist, Book Riot, iREAD and NoveList®, as well as at the HWA’s website: www.horror.org and RA for All Horror: http://raforallhorror.blogspot.com/p/summer-scares.html.

Questions? Reach out to HWA Library Committee Co-Chairs Becky Spratford and Konrad Stump via email: libraries@horror.org.

Summer Scares 2026 Committee Members: 

Jennifer McMahon is the New York Times bestselling author of twelve suspense novels including The Winter People, Promise Not to Tell, and My Darling Girl. She’s written about ghosts, serial killers, shape shifting monsters, an evil fairy king, a kidnapping rabbit, a terrifying swimming pool, and more. She lives on the Gulf Coast of Florida with her partner, Drea. When not writing, she spends a lot of time exploring and seeking out haunted places, real and imagined.

Becky Spratford is a library consultant and the author of The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition which was released in September of 2021. She reviews horror for Booklist magazine, is the horror columnist for Library Journal and runs the Readers’ Advisory blog, RA for All: Horror. She is the author of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature (Saga Press/S&S, September 2025).

Konrad Stump works for the Springfield-Greene County (MO) Library, where he coordinates the long-running "Oh, the Horror!" series, profiled in The Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, third edition. He also created the Donuts & Death horror book discussion group, featured in Book Club Reboot: 71 Creative Twists (ALA), and co-created the Summer Scares Programming Guide. His work has appeared in Library Journal, NoveList, and Booklist.

Carolyn Ciesla is an academic library director in the Chicago suburbs and is serving as the 2025-26 Illinois Library Association President. She has worked as a teen librarian and reference librarian and has reviewed horror titles for Booklist magazine. She’s currently teaching horror to first-year college students. You can find her all over the internet as @papersquared.

Kelly Jensen is senior editor at Book Riot, the largest independent book website in North America. She covers all things young adult literature and has written about censorship for nearly ten years. She is the author of three critically acclaimed and award-winning anthologies for young adults on the topics of feminism, mental health, and the body. She was named a person of the year in 2022 by Publishers Weekly and a Chicagoan of the Year in 2022 by the Chicago Tribune for her anti-censorship work. She has twice earned commendation from the American Association of School Librarians for her censorship coverage. Prior to her work at Book Riot, she was a public librarian for children, teens, and adults in several libraries in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. She is currently enrolled in a clinical mental health counseling master's program to bolster her work with mental health.

Julia Smith is a senior editor at Booklist, where she works in the youth books department and harbors a deep love of middle-grade literature. Prior to her career at Booklist, she worked at an independent children's bookstore and in the Chicago Public Library system.

Yaika Sabat (MLS) comes from a background in public libraries and now works at NoveList as the Manager of Reader Content and Services, where she creates genre and reader focused content and services. As a Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council member, she aims to help librarians understand and embrace the horror genre. Her other passions include writing, film and media, and folklore. .

31 Days of Horror: Day 30-- Final Thoughts and a Big Thank You to You, the Library Workers Who Make All of This Possible and Of Course, the weekly #HorrorForLibraries Giveaway

Today is the final day of original posting here on 31 Days of Horror. Tomorrow, as always, is saved for the Summer Scares Spokesperson announcement.

I left this day open for exactly to share my final thoughts. (That is why it didn't post right at 7am). I try to do this every year, but this year, it was more important for me to do this. Why? Because while we went on this blogging journey together, I was also traveling all over to promote WHY I LOVE HORROR. At the same time.

I knew it would be whirlwind, trying to do both, but I needed to get out there to appear with the authors to promote this book AND still fulfill my now 15 year long promise to you-- to give you 31 days of horror posts in October.

And quite honestly, without the 31 Days of Horror blog series, which inspired the "Why I Love Horror" sub-series, I wouldn't be out here with a book at all. I really do owe a lot to you, the library workers who count on me to help you understand the scariest genre better.

In fact, that is why I dedicated the book to librarians everywhere and specifically 4 very special librarians-- Konrad Stump, Emily Vinci, Lila Denning, and Yaika Sabat.

Speaking for Yaika, she just had this personal nonfiction essay about her own chronic illness and horror movies published in Frivolous Comma. I am being very vague on purpose so you go read it here. 

And speaking on Konrad, I just returned from visiting his very successful Oh, the Horror! month-long series of in person events at the Springfield-Greene County Library. I wrote about it on Day 8, here. But the pictures and video from my specific appearances with Grady Hendrix (on stage and on TV) can be seen but visiting my tour page or by clicking here to go to the photos directly.

For each event listed on my tour page (not just this week's event),  I created a shared folder of photos. You can access them all here.

The tour page is pinned at the top of the main blog both so you get easy access and because the tour is NOT OVER YET (more below)

Please also see that page for my podcast appearances. One more dropped today-- Capes and Tights. Here they are all in one place with links now that they are all live.

• Books in the Freezer
• Reading Glasses
• The Scares That Shaped Us
• Circulating Ideas
• Capes and Tights
• Every Library Live via Facebook or YouTube

But back to the Springfield, MO event because it was the perfect example of what I experienced on the road in general. Yes there were people at each stop who were there for the authors I was appearing with-- and that made my heart full, especially the ones who drove long distances. But also, and this shocked me, there were more than a handful of the hundreds of people I met over the last 6 weeks who were there for me. People who wanted to be librarians, those who follow my reviews, and a few who found my textbooks on the circulating shelf at their library and came to thank me for exploding their TBRs and introducing them to new voices.

And then there were the people who had never heard of me, but after hearing me speak with some of my authors told me they were so glad they came and met me so that they could share my book with those they love to let them see why they love horror so much. Or the teachers who are adding the book and specific essays to their curriculum so the students can use it as an exercise for writing their own personal narratives. And there is so much more. 

I knew it would be hard to do this in person tour and my blog, but not neglected all of you while I still got out there to share why we love horror AND get their love back in return was worth every minute of it.

And remember, this year may be coming to an end, but you can relive it all here on the blog a few ways. The easiest way to pull up every 31 Days of Horror post from all 15 years is to use the tag. But you can also scroll down to the blog archive ion think right gutter, below the tags and open any year. Then open October, and right there are the 31 days laid out for you. That is my favorite way to scroll the archives. You can go to a specific year and browse very easily.

Back to the teaser above about more touring!

Please stay tuned to that tour page linked here and at the top of every page on RA for All. I will be in Seattle next week. I have something in the works in NE for late January. And I can confirm that I will be at Scares that Cares Author Con 6 in late February.

Thank you so much for being on this journey for 31 Days of Horror with me, this year and every year. I really mean it when I say that none of this would have been possible without all of you. Everything I do is for library workers first and everyone else second. Without your support and continued encouragement to to this annual event and writing textbooks for you and hiring me to train your staff, without all of it, I would not be in a position to bring WHY I LOVE HORROR out to the readers directly. 

Click here for more
Why I Love Horror,
in book form 

To that end, I have a thank you gift for two of you. To end the month I am giving away 2 finished copies of my book. I will personalize and sign them for you. You do not have to add them to your collection, BUT please make sure you all order my book for your library and their patrons. I am telling people I meet to check the book out from their library. It is available in print (Ingram was just restocked) and as an ebook and audiobook on Libby. I think you need all three to meet your readers where they are.

So that is two of my books for 2 winners. I will draw the winners with this MG anthology from Monday as the first winner and then the the next two names will be my books. Here are your details on how to enter:

1. You need to be affiliated with an American Library. My rationale behind that is that I will be encouraging you to read these books and share them with patrons. While many of them are advanced reader copies that you cannot add to your collections, if you get the chance to read them, my hope is that you will consider ordering a copy for your library and give away the ARC away as a prize or pass it on to a fellow staff member.
2. If you are interested in being included in any giveaway at any time, you must email me at zombiegrl75 [at] gmail [dot] com with the subject line "#HorrorForLibraries." In the body of the email all you have to say is that you want to be entered and the name of your library.
3. Each entry will be considered for EVERY giveaway. Meaning you enter once, and you are entered until you win. I will randomly draw a winner on Fridays sometime after 5pm central. But only entries received by 5pm each week will be considered for that week. I use Random.org and have a member of my family witness the "draw"based off your number in the Google Sheet.
4. If you win, you are ineligible to win again for 4 weeks; you will have to re-enter after that time to be considered [I have a list of who has won, when, and what title]. However, if you do not win, you carry over into the next week. There is NO NEED to reenter.

Good luck!

And remember, the giveaway happens all year, so enter now and you are entered going forward. You might not win my book, but since April 2020, I have given away close to 300 books. That is not stopping anytime soon. Once you are in the spreadsheet, you stay there until you win.

Thank you again and come back tomorrow for the 2026 Summer Scares Spokesperson announcement. Big hint-- the author appears in my book!

Happy Halloween.

31 Days of Horror: Day 29-- How Grady Hendrix Came to Love Horror

Last night I appeared live on stage in conversation with Grady Hendrix as part of Springfield-Greene County Library's Oh, the Horror! Details on that month long event are here. Photos from the event are posted to my tour schedule page here, including a video of Grady and I on local TV promoting the event.

As the 2025 version of 31 Days winds down, I think it is fitting I appeared with Hendrix on this book tour at the end of October for a couple of reasons. First, in 2 days, I will be announcing the Spokesperson for Summer Scares 2026, a reading program that was not only Grady's idea but for which he was our first Spokesperson.

And second, the reason Hendrix and I are on stage to gather in Missouri, a state neither of us live in, is to promote my book and Hendrix's contribution to it.

It got me thinking about whenHendrix's essay in that book was excerpted in CrimeReads back in April here. That was also the official cover reveal for the anthology.

But that excerpt, it was the first time the outside world got to see any part of my book. It was an important moment for the book and for me. It was the moment I knew the book was real.

Looking back at it now, it has all been a blur since that day in April. I started promoting the book on the road back in June and I have been on the road pretty much non stop since 9/18 with still one more event with Sadie Hartmann at Seattle Public Library on 11/6 until I stop for 2025 (but there are already 2 WHY I LOVE HORROR book tour event in early 2026 in the works). The book went into its third printing after  only 3 weeks and people are really connecting with it. 

I will reflect on all of this more tomorrow. But today, I wanted to send all of you back to that moment in April 2025-- CrimeReads with Grady Hendrix writing about how he came to love horror.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Click here for more
Why I Love Horror,
in book form