Essential Pride Month Horror Reads
It’s Pride all year here, but I love giving you some special queer horror picks every Pride! This year, I am featuring some of the best queer horror books that I cannot get out of my head. I still think about all of these books, and to me, that marks a true must read.
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
Read My Review: When That Perfect Life Doesn’t Turn Out the Way You Hoped – A Hot Take on “Traditional Wife” Influencers
A “traditional wife” influencer allows a demonic creature to impregnate her in this unnerving horror novel, perfect for fans of Nightbitch and Mary, from the author of Serial Killer Support Group.
Every #tradwife needs a baby. She’ll get one at any cost.When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband, Graham, have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never grow out of its infancy.
When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterward, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true.
Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever posted—so what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a traditional wife is worth it.
Rosemary’s Baby for the digital age, this disturbing horror novel is one you’ll want to devour in just one bite.
Waxing Off by E.E.W. Christman
Author Interview: Interview with Author E.E.W. Christman
“Waxing Off is a fresh, engaging new take on the werewolf mythos, expertly probing themes about gender and loneliness while still making sure the reader enjoys a satisfying, bloody romp. Fans of Gretchen Felker-Martin and Chuck Tingle will find a lot to love here. E.E.W Christman is an exciting new voice in the queer horror space whose future work I’m definitely looking forward to!”
-Liz Kerin, author of the Night’s Edge Duology and The Phantom Forest—Welcome to Cat’s CoveA struggling Pacific Northwest fishing town teeming with transphobes and werewolves…but not the ones you are thinking of.
Drew is a non-binary werewolf, but hardly by choice. Having made a home for themself working in a fish fry joint and trying to hide their secret, their heightened sense of smell leads them to Gab – a female werewolf who is about to change their life in more ways than one. Coming from a family that did nothing to make Drew feel comfortable in their own skin, their immediate connection with Gab is intimate and unexpected.
But a collective of TERFs lurks nearby, and an attack makes it clear that they would prefer it if Gab fell in line, and Drew simply ceased to exist. Little do they know what is coming for them.
Filled with ferocity, carnage, and the enduring power of queer love and acceptance, Waxing Off is a werewolf horror story with heart, and a testament to what it means to fight back, fight for yourself, and fight to exist.
For fans of:
- Horromance
- Werewolves
- Queer Horror
- Queer Romance
- Atmospheric Northwest Setting
- Underdogs Fighting Back
Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen
Read My Review: A Queer, Brutal, and Heart Wrenching Take on Gothic Horror
Author Interview: Interview with Johanna van Veen
“I’m in your blood, and you are in mine…”
The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy’s twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband’s grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister’s condition, but it’s clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.
Then, the worst happens. Sarah’s behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry… and hungry.
Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever.
Read My Review: ARC Review: A Heartfelt and Terrifying All Too Realistic Must-Read
“An existential masterwork that, like life, is equal parts atrocity and delights.”—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of Masters of Death
Lucky Day is the instant USA Today and Indie bestseller from Chuck Tingle, where one woman must go up against horrifying odds to save the world.
Four years ago, an unthinkable disaster occurred. In what was later known as the Low-Probability Event, eight million people were killed in a single day, each of them dying in improbable, bizarre ways: strangled by balloon ropes, torn apart by exploding manhole covers, attacked by a chimpanzee wielding a typewriter. A day of freak accidents that proved anything is possible, no matter the odds. Luck is real now, and it’s not always good.
Vera, a former statistics and probability professor, lost everything that day, and she still struggles to make sense of the unbelievable catastrophe. To her, the LPE proved that the God of Order is dead and nothing matters anymore.
When Special Agent Layne shows up on Vera’s doorstep, she learns he’s investigating a suspiciously—and statistically impossibly—lucky casino. He needs her help to prove the casino’s success is connected to the deaths of millions, and it’s Vera’s last chance to make sense of a world that doesn’t.
Because what’s happening in Vegas isn’t staying there, and she’s the only thing that stands between the world and another deadly improbability.
Little White Flowers by Amber Hathaway
Read My Review Through the Horror Writers Association: NOTABLE WORKS REVIEW: Little White Flowers by Amber Hathaway
Some secrets are better left to rot.
When she and her brother venture to Evanston, Maine to clean out an estranged relative’s estate, horror enthusiast Alice Drayon’s life begins paralleling her favorite page-turners. The sojourn in their grandmother’s “wicked” hometown provides the perfect opportunity for Alice to delve into Grammie’s mysterious past. However, she soon discovers that the horrific event that drove Grammie away is but one small piece of the town’s blighted history.
Confronted with increasing hostility from Evanston’s insular religious community as she closes in on the truth, Alice must risk everything to save lives. Her soft-spoken new neighbor, Riley Moore, seems to have answers … and some dark secrets of his own. Can Alice trust him to help her put an end to Evanston’s wicked practices, or will she become yet another casualty?
Little Eve meets “The Lottery” meets “Children of the Corn.”
Perfect for readers who love:
- Slow burn horror
- Family secrets
- Creepy small towns
- Religious cults
Read My Review: Book Review: A Gritty and Original Take on the Vampire Mythos
“Complex and fully realized, Kerin’s vampire apocalypse has a palpable beating heart.”—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six
Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin takes a bite out of vampire lore in this blood-soaked novel about the darkest secrets we hide and how monstrous we can be to the ones we love most.
Having a mom like Izzy meant Mia had to grow up fast. No extracurriculars, no inviting friends over, and definitely no dating. The most important rule: Tell no one of Izzy’s hunger – the kind only blood can satisfy.
But Mia is in her twenties now and longs for a life of her own. One where she doesn’t have to worry about anyone discovering their terrible secret, or breathing down her neck. When Mia meets rebellious musician Jade she dares to hope she’s found a way to leave her home – and her mom – behind.
It just might be Mia’s only chance of getting out alive.
“Night’s Edge is a gruesome and surprisingly heartfelt page-turner.”—Alexis Henderson, author of House of Hunger
“A Phoebe Bridgers song in book form, I felt and bled, willingly and gratefully.”—CJ Leede, author of Maeve Fly
With Night’s Edge, Liz Kerin took a bite out of vampire lore. The riveting sequel, First Light, 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.
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