I can’t let June slide by without recognizing Pride Month, and of course you know I’m going to pair it with Summer of Horror😉 Here are 20 upcoming queer horror releases on my TBR! Get ready to add more books to your TBR, because there is a lot to choose from, including not one but two stories inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet and one Bluebeard retelling. These are listed in alphabetical order by title, and I’ll link them to Goodreads so you can read the full description. This isn’t a complete list, so let me know what queer horror books you would add!
All Her Beautiful Deaths by A. Rushby. “A gothic tale in two timelines in which the lives of two women intersect through a series of mysterious, eerily beautiful photographs of the dead.”
The Brides by Charlotte Cross. “A dual timeline novel, told through letters, diary entries, psychiatric reports, that places women at the centre of literature’s most famous vampire story.”
The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims. “There’s something lurking in the stifling darkness and labyrinthine tunnels that run below London… something old, something vicious, and something very, very hungry.”
Carrying by Samantha Josephs. “An audacious, inventive debut and a cult classic in the making, from a thrilling new talent in fiction.”
Chimera by Gretchen Felker-Martin. “A powerful family’s terrible secrets threaten to consume them in Chimera, a visceral body horror novel from Gretchen Felker-Martin, the author of Manhunt and Cuckoo.”
Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle. “From Chuck Tingle, USA Today bestselling author of Bury Your Gays, comes Fabulous Bodies, a supernatural joyride where Drive meets Beetlejuice.”
Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw. “A young woman wakes up to find the black hound of Death at her front door in this hauntingly beautiful tale from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw.”
Lethal Kiss by Taylor Grothe. “Jennifer’s Body meets Ninth House: Taylor Grothe’s adult debut novel is a sapphic horror/romance that’s as grotesque and blood-soaked as it is beautiful.”
Milkteeth by Caitlin Starling. “From the bestselling author of The Death of Jane Lawrence comes a new, genre-bending supernatural horror about a vampire broodmother fighting against her own monstrous descent.”
Monstera by Delilah S. Dawson. “A reclusive young woman moves into what seems like the perfect apartment and is obsessively drawn to her reclusive neighbour, who keeps a lush garden and is hiding a deadly secret… Eat the Ones You Love meets Wilder Girls in this sensual, sapphic, botanical horror novella from the New York Times-bestselling author of Bloom and House of Idyll.”
My Violent Muse by Rosie Sycamore. “Compulsive and deviant, My Violent Muse is a razor-sharp thriller about revenge, exploitation, obsession, and the dangerous bargains we strike for power, survival, and love.”
The Need by Megan Mostyn-Brown. “Every family has its secrets. But in this electric, provocative, and dizzyingly fast-paced horror debut, some families have The Need.”
Quaint Folk by Bitter Karella. “The Wicker Man meets The Twisted Ones in Bitter Karella’s Quaint Folk—a queer folk horror novel that peels back the idyllic veneer of a seemingly perfect island town to reveal the rot beneath.”
Rottenheart by Kat Dunn. “Inspired by Hamlet, the ultimate revenge tragedy, Rottenheart is the stunning new sapphic gothic horror novel from Kat Dunn, the lauded author of Hungerstone and Bitterthorn. Set in the 1890s, this a story of love and grief, mothers and daughters, death and madness.”
She Haunts Me Still by De Elizabeth. “When an ancient, bloodthirsty evil calls to collect on a bargain that dates back to the New England vampire panic, Mallory, Ezra, and Saskia will have to untangle the tragic ways in which their histories are linked—and face the devastating consequences of their own star-crossed love story.”
This Movie Doesn’t End the Way We Want by Hailey Piper. “A woman, haunted by the disappearance of her sister and best friend thirty years ago uncovers the terrifying urban legend behind the last film they watched together, in this chilling riff on the cursed film subgenre by the Bram Stoker award-winning author of Queen of Teeth.”
Thoughts Be Bloody by Auden Patrick. “A struggling student, a resident golden boy, and the curse that will bring them together: this queer, trans retelling is Hamlet as you’ve never read it before.”
A Thousand Monstrous Forms by Saratoga Schaefer. “Bluebeard gets a gothic horror and sapphic romance twist in this fairytale retelling from the author of Serial Killer Support Group and Trad Wife.”
What a Nightmare by Rebekah Faubion. “They called her a nightmare, so she became one.”
Your Beloved Remains by Quinn Connor. “As fascination turns to obsession, two women drag each other into an academic horror of forgery, murder, and rage, destined to be devoured by readers of Plain Bad Heroines and If We Were Villains.”
What a fantastic list. I’ve just added half of these to my TBR. Im especially excited for the ones I mentioned on my list too along with Chimera now as it sounds fantastic (even if the cover does make me nervous). The Bluebeard retelling has me especially intrigued too, I can never resist adding those to my TBR.
I’ve been listening to The Magnus Archives and I’m really looking forward to The Burn Line!