#ya horror

[starrryking]

hazelthorn 🖤 can’t wait for y’all to be able to read this one

[torpublishinggroup]

Though it might be tempting, don’t venture into hedge mazes…no matter what

Be mindful of triggering the wrath of revenge ghosts lest you become a ghost yourself

Beware the dangers of underestimating “docile girls”—it could be a killer mistake

Summoning an ancient evil demon is NEVER a good idea. Seriously. 

Trying to steal someone’s home might cost you your soul. It’s never worth it. 

Understand that haunted houses have feelings too—the problem is sometimes they’re evil.

Tips provided by Terry J. Benton-Walker, editor and contributor of The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power.

WHAT IT’S ABOUT

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

A museum curator who despises “diasporic inaccuracies.” A sweet girl and her diary of happy thoughts. An old house that just wants friends forever....

These stories are filled with ancient terrors and modern villains, but go ahead, go into the basement, step onto the old plantation, and open the magician’s mystery box because this time, the white guy dies first.

Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming contributors: Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

A collection you’ll be dying to talk about…if you survive it.

[kiefrcryptbookworm]

I WROTE A BOOK!!! A REAL BOOK WITH PAGES AND SENTENCES AND PLOT AND LORE AND EVEN A COVER!!! AKSHWJDJAHDJSSNAJQHSJWHD

I am freaking ecstatic to share my first born child, Mirror Mirror, with everyone!!

✨️Available now✨️on Amazon in both paperback and e-book/kindle formats 👏👏

Mirror Mirror : Cudahy, K R: Amazon.ca: Books

Friday the thirteenth.

A classic slasher franchise, a layered history of urban folklore, supported by the superstitions of a time long gone.

Bloody Mary.

A mysterious legend shrouded in superstitions and spoken word tales that have survived and thrived through the digital age.

What is to happen when two high schoolers meddle with legends and entities beyond their comprehension?

A harmless seance for fun?

Or, a desperate fight for survival when the legends and creepypasta’s become far more literal than skeptical Ellsie ever could have imagined?

With peril lurking around every corner, can Ellsie and her new crush, Mira, see the light of day again? Or, will their reflections expose deeper secrets they never expected…

Find out in the spine-chilling tale of Mirror Mirror.

[aroaessidhe]

faves of 2025: YA horror

The Corruption of Hollis Brown

They Bloom At Night

The Dead of Summer

Hazelthorn

When Devils Sing

Beautiful Brutal Bodies

read in 2025

[zkwoodz]

I have been swinging in and out of online activity, but I am finally here to announce that my debut, The New Normal has a cover by none other than Evangeline Gallagher. (Plus... Other info about the book)

I am beyond excited to share this book with the world. Though an official release date is *still* hanging in the middle of nowhere, I am placing my bets that it will be released this summer (which is still better than what I originally thought)!

[demondoesarts]

Don't let the forest in :)

Started this book yesterday and I'm in love already (170ish pages in)

[therefugeofbooks]

Hell Followed With Us by Andrew Joseph White

[hislittleraincloud]

Wyler doesn't (and won't) work.

1. She had gone to save her brother.

2. Tyler was holding onto the chain that held her brother, who he knew was going to die/be used to help save his mother (so he thought).

3. Wednesday wasn't necessarily looking over at Tyler before she thought she was going to die. She was there for her brother, FFS. (Clever editing, much like how it was in S1E3 during the Crackstone Fountain fallout. The editing made it seem like she was smirking at Weems, but her eyeline was directed towards Sheriff Galpin's area on the stage.)

For as much teasing as the show's doing for Wyler, it shouldn't happen. He's done nothing to actually help her so far, not even a whisper of genuine help, which is what antiheroes do.

YA fantasy/horror has traditionally had tons of examples of morally greys and/or antagonists ("bad boys") that end up becoming romantic antiheroes (Spike and (techncially) Angel from Buffy, Cole from Charmed, and more recently, Nick Scratch from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina). I feel like the Wylers are craving this kind of thing with Tyler, but he's done nothing to warrant that kind of turn (no pun intended).

He stated that being a Hyde is "the most free he's ever felt" (after Isaac called it a horrible curse in S2E6/"Woe Thyself"), except that he's most always been killing or obeying under a master/mistress, be it Laurel or Françoise and he never truly makes a choice or sacrifice to help the heroine (he wanted to kill Laurel earlier on in Ep4, but didn't have the opportunity; thus is the nature of Hydes and why they're so dangerous). He never has a real betrayal of his masters or nature that would signal true love or bonding with Wednesday: no fighting alongside her/burning in the Hellmouth, no betraying demonic masters, no selfless act against Dark Lords. He never defied Laurel when it came to Wednesday (went after her TWICE on his own; once in S1E8 after "Laurel said you were dead", then up and thew Wednesday out the window after killing Laurel in S2E4), didn't defy his mother. His "freedom" is STILL bound up in servitude towards the monster within.

Regardless of any cutesy feelings he may still have for Wednesday and vice versa, he let people get seriously hurt for his own selfish purposes, never once stepping in to sabotage plans in either S1 or S2 (remember, he was going to kill her in S1E8 as well, until Enid came along). He would have happily turned into a Hyde during S2E6 to battle wolf! Wednesday if his mommy hadn't interfered (which was stupid of her to do, since wolf!Wednesday certainly had it in her to murder him if she hadn't been stopped by Enid-in-Wednesday's body).

He's poorly written so far to become a "romantic antihero" like what the Wylers seem to want. The only way I can see him being redeemed now is if he turned into a Hyde when wolf!Enid is being set upon by a pack of other werewolves up in Canada and sacrifices himself to save Enid/let her get away/get cured/whatevertheHell they're going to do with her. But then he'd be dead, so. Still no romance for Wednesday Addams. 🤷🏽‍♂️