April’s new horror books include a generational saga haunted by La Llorona, sci-fi horror aboard a struggling generation ship, a much-anticipated cosmic horror sequel, urban climate horror in a near-future Toronto, and 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 2023 list right here.
April 2023’s new horror books:
- Kill Radio, Lauren Bolger (Apr 1, Malarkey Books): When Rachelle unearths her ex’s handmade crystal radio, violence and terror reign in the form of hellhounds, shadow figures, and finally, possessions. Enter smooth, dark-eyed James Carroway. He offers her protection she’s quick to accept despite her apprehensions. When James reveals he’s a warlock in search of the crystal radio that caused these supernatural events, Rachelle explains it belonged to her son’s estranged father, Chad. They realize it played a part in Chad’s possession. Their only option is to find Chad and learn about the origins of the radio before more of her family are killed. Or worse, taken. Rachelle has to risk losing the people she loves (again) to make it stop.
- Voice of the Stranger, Eric Schaller (Apr 3, Lethe Press): Eric Schaller’s second collection of edgy and weird fiction draws inspiration from well-known fairy and folktales. Readers who enjoy their darkness and horror from a literary perspective will find much to enjoy in this book.
- House of Cotton, Monica Brashears (Apr 4, Flatiron): A stunning, contemporary Black southern gothic novel about what it means to be a poor woman in the God fearing south in the age of OnlyFans. Sharp as a belted knife, this sly social commentary cuts straight to the bone. House of Cotton will keep you mesmerized until the very last page.
- Hunt for Eden’s Star, D.J. Williams (Apr 4, Wander): A coming-of-age teen is thrown into a world of ancient secrets when he discovers a supernatural artifact that protects a weapon of mass destruction. With the help of a diverse group of friends (including some badass female heroines), he embarks on a global adventure, seeking the truth about his sister’s death, and uncovers two clandestine, societies waging an epic war that threatens the future of civilization. D. J. Williams’s suspenseful, page-turning style whisks readers into a wildly exciting, supernatural adventure that grabs hold of the imagination and never lets go.
- The Insatiable Volt Sisters, Rachel Eve Moulton (Apr 4, MCD x FSG): Told from the perspectives of four flawed, fascinating women, The Insatiable Volt Sisters is a lush, enthralling fable about monsters real and imagined. From the unbounded imagination of Rachel Eve Moulton, the critically acclaimed author of Tinfoil Butterfly, comes another eerie, terrifying exploration of family and legacy: Will the Volt sisters inherit the horrors of their past or surpass them?
- The Last Heir to Blackwood Library, Hester Fox (Apr 4, Graydon House): In post–World War I England, a young woman inherits a mysterious library and must untangle its powerful secrets… Lush, atmospheric and transporting, The Last Heir to Blackwood Library is a skillful reflection on memory and female agency, and a love letter to books from a writer at the height of her power.
- Linghun, Ai Jiang (Apr 4, Dark Matter): Follow Wenqi, Liam, and Mrs. in this modern gothic ghost story by Chinese-Canadian writer and immigrant Ai Jiang. Linghun is set in the mysterious town of HOME, a place where the dead live again as spirits, conjured by the grief-sick population that refuses to let go.
- Natural Beauty, Ling Ling Huang (Apr 4, Dutton): Sly, surprising, and razor-sharp, Natural Beauty follows a young musician into an elite, beauty-obsessed world where perfection comes at a staggering cost.
- Paradise-1, David Wellington (Apr 4, Orbit): An electrifying novel perfect for fans of science fiction and horror, Paradise-1 follows two agents from the United Earth Government as they investigate the complete disappearance of humanity’s first deep space colony.
- The Scourge Between Stars, Ness Brown (Apr 4, Nightfire): Ness Brown’s The Scourge Between Stars is a tense, claustrophobic sci-fi/horror blend in the vein of Alien and Event Horizon.
- Nightfall & Other Dangers, Jacob Steven Mohr (Apr 7, JournalStone): A flyboy volunteers for a suicide mission with a copilot from beyond the stars. A painter’s body is possessed by a malevolent force to render a likeness of its hellish beloved. Hundreds of adults mysteriously drown themselves along a one-mile stretch of beach. Two bandits mistakenly steal a severed head—and inherit a nightmare. These and more are the narratives within Nightfall & Other Dangers: stories of ecstasy and terror, memory and madness. Quietly apocalyptic, intimately brutal, and above all else devilishly frightening, this is the beginning of the Nightfall, from which there is no reprieve of dawn.
- They Hide: Short Stories to Tell in the Dark, Francesca Maria (Apr 7, Brigids Gate Press): A new short story collection exploring beloved horror tropes.
- Harvest House, Cynthia Leitich Smith (Apr 11, Candlewick): NSK Neustadt Laureate and New York Times best-selling author Cynthia Leitich Smith delivers a thrilling cross-genre follow-up to the acclaimed Hearts Unbroken.
- One or Several Deserts, Carter St Hogan (Apr 11, 11:11 Press): Queer, strange, grotesque: eight intimate fictions give voice to bodies at the margins as they yearn and claw at their own flesh. Some of these bodies flicker in and out of reality; some find rebirth in a sentient disease; some consume the bowels of their lovers; others wrestle with sexual awakening at the hands of a giant stone in the wide American prairie. Bristling with defiance, cruel but tender, One or Several Deserts bends reality with a logic all its own.
- Agony’s Lodestone, Laura Keating (Apr 14, Tenebrous Press): Laura Keating’s debut novella wraps you in its weird, cold embrace, blending elements of found footage horror, fraught family drama, and a creepy-ass Canadian wilderness where time and space just won’t sit still.
- Attack of the Killer Tomatoes: The Novelization, Jeff Strand (Apr 14, Encyclopocalypse): UFOs! Bigfoot! Communists! The government has swiftly dealt with many a crisis… But can it survive the diabolical ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES? After a series of bizarre and increasingly horrific attacks from pulpy, red, seeded fruit, Mason Dixon finds himself leading a “crack” team of specialists to save the planet. But will they be quick enough to save everyone? To save you? You can’t run! You can’t swim! There’s nowhere to hide! THE KILLER TOMATOES ARE EVERYWHERE!
- The Helios Syndrome, Vivian Shaw (Apr 15, Lethe Press): When Devin Stacy, a freelance necromancer, though the National Transportation Safety Board considers him an insightful contingency communication specialist, investigates a plane gone missing under weird circumstances, he finds himself haunted by a dead pilot. Can Stacy figure out the mysteries of both the ghost and disappearance before another flight full of passengers faces peril? Vivian Shaw’s new novella offers thrills and chills, cinematic and necromantic.
- The Massacre at Yellow Hill, C. S. Humble (Apr 17, Cemetery Dance): The Miller and Ptolemy families are pitted against mundane and supernatural forces in this Weird West adventure. Family struggles, heart-stopping gunfights, and nightmare creatures from dark realms abound in this award-winning novel from C.S. Humble.
- Bound in Flesh: An Anthology of Trans Body Horror, ed. Lor Gislason (Apr 18, Ghoulish Books): Bound in Flesh brings together 13 trans and non-binary writers, using horror to both explore the darkest depths of the genre and the boundaries of flesh. A disgusting good time for all! Featuring stories by Hailey Piper, Joe Koch, Bitter Karella, and others. Edited by Lor Gislason.
- The Cherished, Patricia Ward (Apr 18, HarperTeen): For fans of White Smoke, The Hazel Wood, and Wilder Girls comes an original, hypnotizing horror thriller in the vein of Midsommar,as one girl inherits a mysterious house from her estranged grandmother—and a letter with sinister instructions.
- Collage Macabre: An Exhibition of Art Horror (Apr 18, Future Dead Collective): Through these eighteen stories, dread is the medium of choice, winding its way through each unsettling and terrifying tale about human creation, the artistic follies and triumphs we imbue with so much meaning. You will find artists and audiences alike grappling with confrontations beyond their comprehension, works that require more than careful consideration—sometimes a little bit of blood is necessary. Art is alive if you are. Inside these pages you will be asked to open yourself up like a wound and expose your mind to the darker side of our oeuvre.
- Dark Matter Presents: Monstrous Futures, ed. Alex Woodroe (Apr 18, Dark Matter): The future is now, and it’s not what we were promised. The optimistic science fiction of old was wrong. Progress is not linear, technology creates as many problems as it solves, and the concept of a better tomorrow has become an abstraction that is in no way guaranteed. When looking at the future now, we no longer ask what is possible. We wonder how will we cope. Contained within this anthology are 29 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors. Brace yourself for the all too real horrors of what could very well be our terribly monstrous futures.
- Games for Dead Girls, Jen Williams (Apr 18, Crooked Lane Books): Exploring the fine line where supernatural ends and real human monstrosity begins, Games for Dead Girls is a haunting, dark read from award-winning author Jen Williams. In the vein of Jennifer Hillier and Alex North, and told in alternating timelines, a ritualistic game turns deadly for two young girls, but it will be years before they must face the true horrors of their past.
- The Haunting of Alejandra, V. Castro (Apr 18, Del Rey): A woman is haunted by the Mexican folk demon La Llorona in this ravishing and provocative literary horror novel about motherhood, family legacy, and self-discovery.
- The Marigold, Andrew F. Sullivan (Apr 18, ECW Press): In a near-future Toronto buffeted by environmental chaos and unfettered development, an unsettling new lifeform begins to grow beneath the surface, feeding off the past.
- Sisters of the Lost Nation, Nick Medina (Apr 18, Berkley): A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut. Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
- The Vile Thing We Created, Robert P. Ottone (Apr 18, Hydra): Robert P. Ottone’s The Vile Thing We Created is a terrifying vision of parenthood in the tradition of Ira Levin and Thomas Tryon.
- The Wishing Pool and Other Stories, Tananarive Due (Apr 18, Akashic Books): Due’s second collection of stories range from horror to science fiction to suspense. From the mysterious, magical town of Gracetown to the aftermath of a pandemic to the reaches of the far future, Due’s stories all share a sense of dread and fear balanced with heart and hope. In some of these stories, the monster is racism itself; others address the monster within, or other universal struggles set against the supernatural or surreal. All of them are written with Due’s trademark attention to detail and deep characterization. In addition to previously published work, this collection contains brand-new stories, including “Rumpus Room,” a supernatural horror novelette set in Florida about a woman’s struggle against both outer and inner demons.
- Even the Worm Will Turn, Hailey Piper (April 22, Off Limits Press): Four years after the events of The Worm and His Kings, Donna Ashton ekes out a life far removed from her troubled past, only to be abducted one December night by a monster in man’s skin. Held prisoner by operatives of a clandestine research facility and drugged into a sickened state, each day brings questioning and punishment. Escape should be possible when Donna faces only mortal hands this time, but the more she sees, the worse her mind splinters with horrific understanding. This facility has punched a hole in space and time. Within it lie secrets mankind should never know of a darkness beyond the universe, the legacy of the almighty Worm, and revelations behind Donna’s ordeal four years ago which now might get her killed.
- Ascension, Nicholas Binge (Apr 25, Riverhead): A mind-bending speculative thriller in which the sudden appearance of a mountain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean leads a group of scientists to a series of jaw-dropping revelations that challenge the notion of what it means to be human
- Death of a Bookseller, Alice Slater (Apr 25, Scarlet): A disaffected bookseller develops a dangerous obsession in this dark and twisty debut. A darkly funny suspense novel, Death of a Bookseller raises ethical questions about the fervor for true crime and how we handle stories that don’t belong to us.
- The Intruders, Brian Pinkerton (Apr 25, Flame Tree Press): Something strange is taking place in the small town of Engles, Indiana. Greg Garrett returns home from a business trip to discover his wife and children have disappeared. More people begin to vanish without a trace. The skies produce a substance that doesn’t look like natural rain. Aggressive swarms of insects attack without warning. And late at night, residents are haunted by ghosts desperate to reveal the secrets of their existence but unable to speak. Engles is undergoing a terrifying transformation that could threaten all of civilization – who is this unseen enemy? What is their mission?
- This Delicious Death, Kayla Cottingham (Apr 25, Sourcebooks Fire): Four best friends, one music festival, and a cooler filled with human organs: this summer is about to get gory. Jennifer’s Body fans will clamor for this new sapphic horror standalone from New York Times bestselling author Kayla Cottingham.
- The Merry Dredgers, Jeremy C. Shipp (Apr 25, Meerkat Press): Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious “accident.” Even if it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists. Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the left, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the right, an animatronic Humpty Dumpty falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later. Up ahead, cultists giggle as they meditate in a hall of mirrors. This is the last place in the world Seraphina wants to be, but the best way to investigate this bizarre cult is to join them.
- Neverest, T.L. Bodine (Apr 25): Neverest is a survival thriller with a hint of the supernatural that will appeal to fans of Ally Wilkes’ All the White Spaces and Amy McCulloch’s Breathless.
- A Sleight of Shadows, Kat Howard (Apr 25, Gallery/Saga Press): Return to Kat Howard’s Alex Award–winning world begun in An Unkindness of Magicians, about a secret society of power-hungry magicians in New York City.
- Our Own Unique Affliction, Scott J. Moses (Apr 26, DarkLit Press): Our Own Unique Affliction is the story of Alice Ann, a dejected immortal who longs for her life in the sun. Navigating guilt, loss, family, meaning, murder, and all that comes with the curse of living forever. An existential bleak, quiet until it’s not, hallucination on duality, rife with fangs, empathy, blood, and grief.
- October Animals, Nicholas Day (Apr 30, Rooster Republic Press): Four teenage friends—Lizzie Bat, Owl, Spider, and Kat—live in the riverside city of October, Illinois. Lizzie Bat, still grieving the loss of her father and at odds with her mother, plans to rob the town’s Halloween store the night of October 31st, and intends to use the money to escape to a new life. And, her friends are all too eager to help. But their scheme threatens to tear the friends apart as they find themselves in the path of supernatural forces and monstrous local legends: haunted houses; doppelgängers; grave robbing; ghosts and vampires; monsters in the river and, even worse, monsters in the home.
Jump Scares 