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Emily has a PhD in English from the University of Southern Mississippi, MS, and she has an MFA in Creative Writing from GCSU in Milledgeville, GA, home of Flannery O’Connor. She spends her free time reading, watching horror movies and musicals, cuddling cats, Instagramming pictures of cats, and blogging/podcasting about books with the ladies over at #BookSquadGoals (www.booksquadgoals.com). She can be reached at [email protected].
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It’s June, and I’ve never been more scared in 2024. Sure, we all know October is officially Spooky Season, but let’s get real for just a second here. June has always been one of the scariest months. Suddenly, a harsh and horrifying reality hits you: we’re already halfway through the year. People start talking about the next year as if it’s soon. And you know what? That’s because it kinda is.
June is here, and we can no longer say it’s the beginning of 2024. There is no denying it any longer. We are deep in it, friends. June is, like, the midnight of the year. And how do we prepare for the midnight hour? With brand-new horror releases.
This month is especially exciting because we’re getting several books that were on my personal list of most anticipated books of the year. A new horror banger from Paul Tremblay? Creepy debut adult fiction from Nicola Yoon? An absolutely chilling debut novel from Monika Kim? I’m on pins and needles. I’m so excited for these books to come out. But there are so many horror books to give you the chills during this spooky month. Here are ten that you have to add to your TBR right now.
Brat by Gabriel Smith (Penguin Press, June 4)
Brat is Gabriel Smith’s debut novel, and it’ll be one of the first horror books you want to pick up at the beginning of June. Struggling to recover from a recent breakup and the death of his father, Gabriel feels his life falling apart all around him. His house is literally crumbling before his very eyes, and actually finishing his novel seems impossible to even think about. Soon, just like the house itself, Gabriel feels his own body deteriorating, and he feels as if he’s being haunted. But how much of it is real? And will he be able to make sense of everything before he loses his grip on reality altogether?
Youthjuice by E.K. Sathue (Hell’s Hundred, June 4)
American Psycho meets The Devil Wears Prada in E.K. Sathue’s horror satire youthjuice. 29-year-old Sophia Bannon has just joined the team at HEBE, a luxury skincare and wellness company that seems to have all the answers. Sophia thinks so anyway, and soon enough, she has fully bought into the company’s promises. But when Sophia discovers the real secret behind HEBE’s success, she’ll have to decide how far she’s willing to go for the promise of beauty.
Cuckoo by Gretchen Felker-Martin (Nightfire, June 11)
June is also giving us a new novel from Gretchen Felker-Martin, the author of Manhunt. Set in the late ’90s, this book follows the story of five queer kids whose parents send them to a conversion camp to help “fix” them. The camp forces the kids to work long hours in the Utah desert heat, all in the hopes of “straightening” them out once and for all. But at night, something else calls to the kids somewhere in the mountains.
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Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay (William Morrow, June 11)
I will go ahead and let you know Horror Movie is my favorite book of 2024 (so far), and I’m so excited for everyone to read it this month. This one’s also partially set in the ’90s, as it follows a group of young filmmakers setting out to film an indie, experimental horror movie. But after many troubles on set, it’s a horror movie that will never see the light of day. In the present timeline, buzz about the never-released film is building, and some scenes have been released on YouTube. Demand for the film is high, so it’s no surprise that a major budget reboot is in the works. But some movies are just cursed, no matter how many times you try to film them or how much money you put into them.
Mouth by Puloma Ghosh (Astra House, June 11)
Puloma Ghosh’s debut short story collection is being compared to Bestiary and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed, which is enough to shoot it straight to the top of my TBR list. A teen skater with necrophiliac tendencies believes she’s sharing the rink with a vampire. A woman is unsure if she’s being haunted by her dead mother…or something else. Through uncanny, surreal, strange, and often horrifying scenarios, Ghosh’s short stories explore grief, intimacy, sexuality, bodily autonomy, and more.
One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon (Knopf, June 11)
I’m a huge fan of Nicola Yoon. The Sun is Also A Star left me in tears. Yes, that is a good thing. But now the author is moving into new territory: adult fiction. And adult fiction that sounds SUPER SCARY. I’m in. Jasmyn and King Williams move their family to Liberty, California in the hopes of becoming part of a supportive, thriving Black community. But Liberty is not the Black utopia Jasmyn dreamed it would be. Something strange is going on in this place, and the truth might destroy everything Jasmyn and King have built for their family.
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima (Tor, June 18)
Here’s a new horror short story collection with an intriguing premise. It all starts in 1999 at a Halloween party where a writer ends up going to bed with the devil. From then on, the devil returns to her throughout her life. As the title suggests, this writer keeps creating stories for the devil, stories that are chilling and strange while also delving into the very real fears and hopes of the Brazilian-American immigrant experience.
We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer (Atria, June 18)
Marcus Kliewer’s debut novel We Used to Live Here was first a serialized story on Reddit’s NoSleep forum, where it won the Scariest Story of 2021. Now, we’re getting the full novel version, and a film adaptation starring Blake Lively is in the works. Charlie and Eve have just gotten a great deal on an old house and are working on renovating it when they hear a knock on their door. It’s a family who claims to have lived in the house three years ago, and they’re hoping to have a look around. But as soon as the family enters the house, strange things start happening.
The Eyes Are the Best Part by Monika Kim (Erewhon, June 25)
This novel’s cover haunts my dreams, and its contents are equally creepy. When her father leaves unexpectedly, Ji-Won is forced to keep the rest of her family together and care for her grieving mother. Ji-Won’s mother tells her that eating fish eyes could bring them good luck, so Ji-Won figures why not try it. The only problem is that now all she can think about is eating eyes — except it’s not fish eyes that Ji-Won wants to eat…
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman (Del Ray, June 25)
There’s something about haunted house stories that always get me. The outside world is scary, but your home should be a safe haven, right? Especially when you’re a child. Incidents Around the House is told from the perspective of eight-year-old Bela, who loves her family very much. But then there’s “Other Mommy,” who asks Bela every day if she can go inside her heart. And the more Bela says no, the angrier Other Mommy starts to get. As strange things start happening around the house, Bela wonders if she’ll finally have to give in if she wants to protect her family.
As always, you can find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index, carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors and organized by genre and release date.
If you want even more horror recommendations coming at you weekly, make sure you subscribe to The Fright Stuff. And be sure to come back to Book Riot at the beginning of every month for a fresh new crop of horror books. Enjoy, horror fans!
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