All the New Horror Books Coming in April 2024

April’s new horror books include a YA anthology of Black final girls, alien horror, monster romance, a centuries-old Aztec vampire, a haunted cemetery worker, and much, much more.

These monthly lists are derived from my annual masterlist, but I’ve gotten a good amount of feedback saying the smaller lists are helpful reminders and easier to digest–they can all be found here. And as always, you can view the full 2024 list right here. Want an email every time I publish one of these lists? Subscribe here!

April 2024’s new horror books:

• Changes in the Land, Matthew Cheney (Apr 1, Lethe): A vast park in a remote corner of New England founded by a 19th-century robber baron has still been maintained by the two families living there for generations—a strange place, a wild place, where dignitaries such as Theodore Roosevelt once hunted big game. Adams Park has remained unchanged for a century. It is a place that inspires the curiosity of others if they even know its existence. But the families have secrets, and nothing remains unchanged forever. In this thrilling novella by acclaimed author Matthew Cheney, the land has desires of its own.
• All the Fiends of Hell, Adam Nevill (Apr 2, Ritual Limited): All The Fiends of Hell is a novel of alien horror from the four times winner of the August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.
• The Black Girl Survives in This One, ed. Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell (Apr 2, Flatiron): A YA anthology of horror stories centering Black girls who battle monsters, both human and supernatural, and who survive to the end. Celebrating a new generation of bestselling and acclaimed Black writers, The Black Girl Survives in This One makes space for Black girls in horror. Fifteen chilling and thought-provoking stories place Black girls front and center as heroes and survivors who slay monsters, battle spirits, and face down death. Prepare to be terrified and left breathless by the pieces in this anthology.
• Cataclysm, Tiffany Meuret (Apr 2, Spaceboy): When the United States collapses into post-apocalyptic ruin, The Woman flees her suburban home. Chronicling her life from the first shock to building and ruling a dieselpunk fiefdom, her mind deteriorates, and she obtains a nuclear weapon. One hundred years later, a boy feeds her journals to an AI to answer lingering questions about his heritage. When the AI becomes sentient, weaving its own stories about The Woman and what her final moments might have been, the boy must confront a deranged power just like the person it was created to emulate. Told through journal entries, Cataclysm is a story of how unrepentant rage permeates generations.
• Cranberry Cove, Hailey Piper (Apr 2, Bad Hand): Bram Stoker Award-winning author Hailey Piper joins Bad Hand Books with a supernatural crime novella. What’s been happening at Cranberry Cove? It’s unspeakable. It’s unspoken. Emberly Hale is about to take a dark journey inside the derelict hotel—and inside her own past—to find out the horrible truth.
• Phantom Limbs: Dissecting Horror’s Lost Sequels and Remakes, Jason Jenkins (Apr 2, Encyclopocalypse): Based on the popular Bloody Disgusting web column of the same name, Phantom Limbs takes a look at intended yet unproduced horror sequels and remakes – extensions to genre films we love, appendages to horror franchises that we adore – that were sadly lopped off before making it beyond the planning stages. Here, writer Jason Jenkins chats with the creators of these unmade extremities to gain their unique insights into these follow-ups that never were, with the discussions standing as hopefully illuminating but undoubtedly painful reminders of what might have been.
• The Psychographist, Carson Winter (Apr 2, Apocalypse Party): The Hoyers are an American family. Two parents, two kids, a house they can’t afford, and a deep desire for more. When the black-clad, seemingly omniscient Mr. Cormorant comes to town, it seems that they might finally be able to cash in on their American Dream. You see, Mr. Cormorant is a psychographist-an expert in consumer personas. And Mr. Cormorant is testing a Product. And Mr. Cormorant has selected the Hoyers for a simple task-test the Product. Live with it. Breathe it in. Abide by its demands. In return? Riches. The cost? Immeasurable. The Psychographist is a disturbing novel of consumption, advertising, focus groups, and the decisions that define us.
• Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell (Apr 2, DAW): Discover this creepy, charming monster-slaying fantasy romance—from the perspective of the monster—by Nebula Award-winning debut author John Wiswell.
• This Skin Was Once Mine and Other Disturbances, Eric LaRocca (Apr 2, Titan): A brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.
• No One is Safe!, Philip Fracassi (Apr 5, Lethe Press): Fourteen stories of macabre, pulpy terror; a book filled with futuristic noir mysteries, science fiction thrillers, alien invasions, and old-school horror tales that will keep you up late into the night. Inside these covers, you’ll discover haunted dream journals and evil houses, birthday wishes gone wrong, a neighborhood cat that cures any disease, a flesh-eating beach, and mysterious skeletons on a hidden moon base. You’ll meet wise-cracking detectives, suburban vampires, murdered movie stars, and monsters of the deep. And remember—don’t get too attached to the characters you’ll meet on these pages because there’s no holding back in this book. Anything can happen, and no one is safe. Featuring an introduction by Ronald Malfi.
• Trailer Park, C.D. Kester (Apr 5): Sometimes blood isn’t family, and family isn’t blood. The boys at Los Hermanos Trailer Park are no strangers to a good urban legend. The legends and reality collide when they begin to notice strange activity with Val Rosen in the trailer down the street. As times grow harder Richie, Jose, Frankie, and Roberto are getting sucked into some things that they probably shouldn’t. Sometimes that’s the way that it goes when you’re passing the time with your brothers in the trailer park.
• A Better World, Sarah Langan (Apr 9, Atria): The author of Good Neighbors, “one of the creepiest, most unnerving deconstructions of American suburbia I’ve ever read” (NPR), returns with a cunning, out-of-the-box satirical thriller about a family’s odyssey into an exclusive enclave for the wealthy that might not be as ideal as it seems.
• Bless Your Heart, Lindy Ryan (Apr 9, Minotaur): A crackling mystery-horror novel with big-hearted characters and Southern charm with a bite, Bless Your Heart is a gasp-worthy delight from start to finish. It’s 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with…normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. But when town gossip Mina Jean Murphy’s body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead, it’s clear that the Strigoi—the original vampire—are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.
• The Garden, Clare Beams (Apr 9, Doubleday): The discovery of a secret garden with unknown powers fuels this page-turning and psychologically thrilling tale of women yearning to become mothers and the ways the female body has always been policed and manipulated, from the award-winning author of The Illness Lesson.
• The Gathering, C.J. Tudor (Apr 9, Ballantine): A detective investigating a grisly crime in rural Alaska finds herself caught up in the dark secrets and superstitions of a small town in this riveting novel from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man.
• Ghost Station, S.A. Barnes (Apr 9, Nightfire): A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence.
• Grey Dog, Elliott Gish (Apr 9, ECW Press): A subversive literary horror novel that disrupts the tropes of women’s historical fiction with delusions, wild beasts, and the uncontainable power of female rage.
• The Last Phi Hunter, Salinee Goldenberg (Apr 9, Angry Robot): Ambitious Phi Hunter and perpetual lone wolf, Ex, finds his road to glory interrupted when a heavily pregnant runaway enlists his help to escape through the ghost-infested forest… The Last Phi Hunter is a mythic dark fantasy, equal parts smart, exhilarating, and delightfully fun.
• The Murmurs, Michael J. Malone (Apr 9, Orenda Books): A young woman starts experiencing terrifying premonitions of people dying, as it becomes clear that a family curse known only as The Murmurs has begun, and a long-forgotten crime is about to be unearthed…
• Myrrh, Polly Hall (Apr 9, Titan): A woman searching for her birth-parents unlocks the secrets of her horrific past, as she tries to stop the goblin within in this kaleidoscopic dark psychological horror about identity and belonging, with a dread-inducing climax you will never forget. Perfect for fans of Eric LaRocca, Daphne du Maurier and Catriona Ward.
• The Underhistory, Kaaron Warren (Apr 11, Profile): People come to visit my home and I love to show them around. It’s not the original house of course. That was destroyed the day my entire family died. But I don’t think their ghosts know the difference. Sinister and lyrical, The Underhistory is a haunting tale of loss, self-preservation and the darkness beneath.
• Ink Vine, Elizabeth Broadbent (Apr 12, Psychotoxin): Lower Congaree calls Emmy a whore. It doesn’t help that she’s a stripper. Worst of all, she likes girls better than guys, and in a town like Lower Congaree, bi girls are smart enough to keep their mouths shut. Emmy’s mother tells her to stay out of the swamp. People disappear back there, she says, and the ones who come back are never the same again. But Emmy doesn’t listen. In the woods, no one calls her names or expects her to have sex for money. When she meets a pretty girl back there—one who kisses her, who listens, who sees her for who she is—Emmy quickly becomes entangled. But there’s something strange about the beautiful Zara. Maybe even something dangerous
• The Count, David-Jack Fletcher (Apr 15, Slashic Horror): When Sam’s ex, Danny, winds up gutted beyond recognition, Sam has no memory of where he was at the time. He can only remember the strange comfort of his new house. The endless ticking of a clock he can’t find. The bloody knife he woke up holding the morning Danny was killed. He begins to feel the ticking inside him, feeding a darkness he’s long ignored. It compels him to take what he wants, regardless of the price. When he begins to act on his bloodlust, the ticking leads him to the death of a loved one. The clock begins to point to more of Sam’s friends and family, begging for their blood. Fuelled by a deep desire to feed, and compelled by the power of the ticking clock, how far will Sam go to get what he wants?
• Eye of the Ourobouros, Megan Bontrager (Apr 15, Quill & Crow): When guilt-stricken park ranger Theodora Buchanan gets too close to the truth of her sister Flora’s strange disappearance, the Federal Bureau of Reality intervenes to ensure that the otherworldly answers she finds never see the light of day…
• Skin That Screams, Thomas Stewart (Apr 15, Unveiling Nightmares): You ever wonder why it can be so uncomfortable to be in your own skin? You think maybe it has something to do with how you look in the mirror? Could it be that you’ve eaten too much? Maybe you’ve even gotten yourself in quite the predicament, letting yourself get hurt… Whatever the case, though, one thing is certain, all flesh has a story, and it’s screaming it!
• Bad Dreams in the Night, Adam Ellis (Apr 16, Andrews McMeel): Like a graphic novel version of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, this collection of original horror tales is packed with urban legends, terrifying twists, and delightfully haunted stories by one of the biggest stars in webcomics. Each story will make you scream for more!
• The Harrowing, Kristen Kiesling, illustrated by Rye Hickman (Apr 16, Abrams): In award-winning author Kristen Kiesling and illustrator Rye Hickman’s YA graphic novel The Harrowing, a psychic teen hunts potential killers until she discovers the boy she loves is her next target.
• The House at the End of Lacelean Street, Catherine McCarthy (Apr 16, Dark Matter Ink): Claudia Dance boards a bus at midnight, destination Lacelean Street. No luggage, not even a coat, despite the icy rain that penetrates her clothing. Like her fellow passengers, she has no clue as to why she is leaving. In fact, she remembers nothing about her past. The answers she seeks can only be found in the red-brick house at the end of the road, but the price she must pay for those answers is substantial.
• Immortal Pleasures, V. Castro (Apr 16, Del Rey): An ancient Aztec vampire roams the modern world in search of vengeance and love in this seductive dark fantasy from the author of The Haunting of Alejandra.
• Indian Burial Ground, Nick Medina (Apr 16, Berkley): A man lunges in front of a car. An elderly woman silently drowns herself. A corpse sits up in its coffin and speaks. On this reservation, not all is what it seems, in this new spine-chilling mythological horror from the author of Sisters of the Lost Nation.
• Lord of the Feast, Tim Waggoner (Apr 16, Flame Tree): Twenty years ago, a cult attempted to create their own god: The Lord of the Feast. The god was a horrible, misbegotten thing, however, and the cultists killed the creature before it could come into its full power. The cultists trapped the pieces of their god inside mystic nightstones then went their separate ways. Now Kate, one of the cultists’ children, seeks out her long-lost relatives, hoping to learn the truth of what really happened on that fateful night. Unknown to Kate, her cousin Ethan is following her, hoping she’ll lead him to the nightstones so that he might resurrect the Lord of the Feast – and this time, Ethan plans to do the job right.
• Sanctuary, Valentina Cano Repetto (Apr 16, CamCat Books): Sibilla Fenoglio wants nothing more than to live with her husband in this run-down, derelict watermill. Uninhabited since the Renaissance after a mysterious disaster befell the previous owners, the mill requires extensive repairs. But there is something frightening about the mill. Repairs are violently undone, half-seen figures begin stalking Sibilla through the grounds, and haunting echoes of the previous owners’ lives infiltrate the present. As the disturbances grow more vicious and her husband more secretive, she realizes that she and her child are in danger.
• Weird Black Girls: Stories, Elwin Cotman (Apr 16, Scribner): From Philip K. Dick Award finalist Elwin Cotman, an irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black–a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.
• Withered, A. G. A. Wilmot (Apr 16, ECW Press): After the tragic death of their father and surviving a life-threatening eating disorder, 18-year-old Ellis moves with their mother to the small town of Black Stone, seeking a simpler life and some space to recover. But Black Stone feels off; it’s a disquieting place, one that’s surrounded by towns with some of the highest death rates in the country. It doesn’t help that everyone says Ellis’s new house is haunted. And Ellis has started to believe them: they see pulsing veins in the walls of their bedroom and specters in dark corners of the cellar. They soon discover Black Stone, and their house in particular, is the battleground in a decades-long spectral war, one that will claim their family — and the town — if it’s allowed to continue.
• Living in Cemeteries, Corey Farrenkopf (Apr 19, JournalStone): A young cemetery worker in Cape Cod must visit his family’s ghosts to learn about his own fate before he’s able to fully live his life.
• The Demon of Devil’s Cavern, Brennan Lafaro (Apr 20, Darklit Press): Six months after the death of Noose Holcomb, Buzzard’s Edge rests in an uneasy quiet, but can a town that resonates with such hatred remain peaceful for long? Dark forces conspire to chase Rory Daggett and his mute adopted daughter, Alice, into exile, framed for a crime they didn’t commit. With a new sheriff and a notorious killer for hire tracking their every move, the two must choose between starting a new life and saving the soul of the town that betrayed them.
• All Things Seen and Unseen, RJ McDaniel (Apr 23, ECW Press): All Things Seen and Unseen follows Alex Nguyen, an isolated, chronically ill university student in her early 20s. After a suicide attempt and subsequent lengthy hospitalization, she finds herself without a job, kicked out of campus housing, unable to afford school, and still struggling in the aftermath of a relationship’s dissolution. Hope comes in the form of a rich high school friend who offers Alex a job housesitting at her family’s empty summer mansion on a gulf island. Surrounded by dense forest and ocean, in the increasingly oppressive heat of a 2010s summer, Alex must try to survive as an outsider in a remote, insular community; to navigate the awkward, unexpected beginnings of a possible new romance; and to live through the trauma she has repressed to survive, even as the memories — and a series of increasingly unnerving events — threaten to pull her back under the surface.
• The Day of the Door, Laurel Hightower (Apr 23, Ghoulish): Three grieving siblings confront their manipulative mother after learning of her participation in a popular paranormal television show designed to dramatize the most traumatic day of their childhood, pitched as The Haunting of Hill House meets A Head Full of Ghosts.
• First Light, Liz Kerin (Apr 23, Nightfire): First Light, the riveting sequel to Liz Kerin’s Night’s Edge, is about seizing a brighter future by confronting the shadows of our past. It’s been nine months since the catastrophe in Tucson sent Mia fleeing from her home. But she’s not running away from the darkness—she’s running toward it, obsessively pursuing the man who gave her mother a thirst for blood and destroyed their lives. But when Mia finds the monsters she’s been hunting and infiltrates a secret network of fugitives, she discovers she might have been their prey all along. To escape their clutches, she’ll have to reckon with her mother’s harrowing past and confront a painful truth: that they might be more alike than she ever imagined.
• The Obscene Bird of Night, José Donoso, trans. Megan McDowell (Apr 23, New Directions): Narrated in voices that shift and multiply, The Obscene Bird of Night frets the seams between master and slave, rich and poor, reality and nightmares, man and woman, self and other in a maniacal inquiry into the horrifying transformations that power can wreak on identity. Now, star translator Megan McDowell has revised and updated the classic translation, restoring nearly twenty pages of previously untranslated text that was mysteriously cut from the 1972 edition. Newly complete, with missing motifs restored, plots deepened, and characters more richly shaded, Donoso’s pajarito (little bird), as he called it, returns to print to celebrate the centennial of its author’s birth in full plumage, as brilliant as it is bizarre.
• The Redemption of Morgan Bright, Chris Panatier (Apr 23, Angry Robot): A woman checks herself into an insane asylum to solve the mystery of her sister’s murder, only to lose her memory and maybe her mind. From the subversive voice behind The Phlebotomist comes a story that combines the uncanny atmosphere of Don’t Worry Darling with the narrative twists of The Last House on Needless Street.
• Oracle, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Apr 30, Nightfire): From international bestseller Thomas Olde Heuvelt comes Oracle, a supernatural thriller where an omen from our past threatens the return of ancient forces that will change the world forever.
• Meet Me in the Middle of the Air, Eric Schaller (Apr, Lethe Press): Dark Miracles. Black Comedies. In an astonishing debut collection of short stories, Eric Schaller invites you to unlock the gates of horn, ascend the bridge of sighs, and meet him in the middle of the air. There you’ll encounter Edgar Allan Poe cavorting with Marilyn Monroe; intimate insects and blood-red roses; apes and automata; and urban witches, parasites, and zombies. Explore the secret nightlife of the Oscar Wildes. Join the Sparrow Mumbler onstage. March in the menagerie of madness and mayhem. Just don’t look down because all that’s holding you aloft is… air.

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