Forget Valentine’s Day! February is for Horror: New Horror Coming Out This Month
Happy February, horror lovers! This month might be considered the month of love and romance for many. And yeah, maybe you’re considering picking up a romance or two to get in the spirit of Valentine’s Day this month. But as you’re planning your TBR for February, don’t forget about your (and my) favorite genre: horror.
This is such an amazing month for new horror releases that it was impossible to narrow this list down to ten. So instead, I have 11 upcoming horror books to share with you this time around. Get ready for thrills. Get ready for chills. Get ready for the return of some of your faves, including long-awaited sequels. And get ready for newcomers to the horror scene as well. Seriously, this month has it all.
So this February, find some time to take a break from the romance and candy hearts to tap into your darker side. Tell your boo you’re skipping date night to get some horror reading in. I totally support you. After all, Valentine’s Day comes around every year. Horror this good is something special.
But pssst…hey…if you do have a romcom-loving side and a horror-loving side, you’ll be pleased to know I’m eating conversations hearts while I’m writing this horror list. Best of both worlds!
Gothic by Philip Fracassi (Cemetery Dance, February 3)
Ever read a story about a haunted desk? This was a first for me. Tyson Parks is a horror writer who receives an antique desk for his 59th birthday. His partner Sarah hopes the desk will reignite his creativity. But as Tyson begins to use his new desk, he starts feeling strange, violent urges. And his writing is more disturbing than anything he’s ever written before. Publishers are sure his new book is going to be a hit, and Tyson will stop at nothing to protect his newfound success.
The Black Guy Dies First by Robin R. Means Coleman, PhD and Mark Harris (Gallery/Saga Press February 7)
Here’s a great horror nonfiction book, out just in time for Black History Month. The Black Guy Dies First is the definitive exploration of the history of Black horror films from fodder like Spider Baby to the Oscar-winning Get Out and everything in between. This book is a must-read for every horror movie aficionado.
Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones (Gallery/Saga Press February 7)
Jade from My Heart is a Chainsaw is back. This book is set four years after the events of that novel, and Jade is returning to her rural lake town of Proofrock. On that very same day, convicted Indigenous serial killer Dark Mill South escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard. Dark Mill South is coming to Proofrock for his own reasons, to complete his revenge killings for the 38 Dakota men who were hanged in 1862.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enríquez (Hogarth, February 7)
You may know Mariana Enriquez from her short story collections, Things We Lost in the Fire and The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. Our Share of Night is Enriquez’s first novel to be translated into English. In this story, a father and his son are grieving the tragic death of the wife and mother they both loved. Now, they travel together to the mother’s family home, where they learn of the strange, centuries-old secret society to which she belongs. The Order is a vampiric cult that will stop at nothing in their hunt for eternal life. And now they’re after Gaspar, the son.
The Spite House by Johnny Compton (Tor Nightfire, February 7)
The Spite House is a debut novel that’s been compared to The Babadook and Head Full of Ghosts. Eric Ross has left his wife, his house, and his mysterious past behind and is on the run with his two daughters. When he comes across an ad for a caretaker for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks he and his daughters might have finally found refuge. But there’s one big catch: the Masson House is thought to be one of the most haunted places in Texas.
Where Darkness Blooms by Andrea Hannah (Wednesday Books, February 21)
This novel is set in the town of Bishop, a place that’s known for three things: recurring windstorms, a large field of sunflowers that stretches as far as the eye can see, and women who go missing. When three women go missing, they leave daughters behind who have to pick up the pieces and uncover startling secrets. Something bad has happened to their mothers, and they’re certain the townspeople know what it was.
Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality by Lindsay Wong (Penguin, February 21)
Tell Me Pleasant Things About Immortality is a collection of strange and often hilarious immigrant horror stories. These stories focus on women who haunt and have been haunted. Wong uses the supernatural, horror, and mythology to critique contemporary life and examine what makes us human.
The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (Harper, February 21)
Matt Ruff is returning to the world of Lovecraft Country for this story that’s a mix of historical fiction and cosmic horror. In the summer of 1957, Atticus Turner and his father Montrose travel to North Carolina to mark the centennial of their ancestor’s escape from slavery. Meanwhile, Hippolyta, her son Horace, and her friend Letitia are on a research trip to Nevada for The Safe Negro Travel Guide. Little do they know that Caleb Braithwhite has returned, and he’s hunting for revenge.
Sister, Maiden, Monster by Lucy A. Snyder (Tor Nightfire, February 21)
From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Lucy A. Snyder comes Sister, Maiden, Monster, the story of three women trying to survive a nightmare. The entire world has been ravished by a virus that transforms its victims in horrifying ways. This cosmic horror story follows these women’s journeys through this terrifying new landscape, the planet’s disastrous transformation, and what comes after.
She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran (Bloomsbury YA, February 28)
This debut YA horror novel is perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic. When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, all she wants to do is smile and get along so she can get away with the college money her father has promised her. But there’s something strange about the house her father is restoring. Every night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls are thrumming. And the ghost of a beautiful bride keeps leaving Jade cryptic warnings.
Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury (Margaret K McElderry, February 28)
Daisy sees dead people, so in navigating life in Ontario, she’s completely unsurprised by the amount of ghosts she sees walking the city. Her boyfriend breaking up with her? Now that is surprising. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion, Daisy jumps at the chance for an escape to a quieter life. But the house — and what’s inside it — might be more than all of Daisy’s experiences with the supernatural have prepared her for. Flash forward to ten years later. Brittney’s desperate to get away from her abusive mother, and she’s quite certain that the book her mother wrote about a “Miracle Mansion” is a total sham. So what does Brittney decide to do? She takes her popular web series Haunted on location to the mansion to find out what happened there ten years earlier and expose her mother’s lies.
Loving horror this February? Here are the Best Horror Books of 2022, in case you missed any from last year. And here are the horror books that came out in January, if you need even more horror to get through the month.
You can find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index, carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date. Oh, and make sure you subscribe to Book Riot’s The Fright Stuff newsletter for all the horror talk you can stand.
Now let’s get scared.
