FREE/BARGAIN - Horror/Supernatural

[salty-horse]

You Weren't Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)
Was on my wishlist.

A Washington Post and Publishers Weekly Best SF/Fantasy/Horror Novel of 2025

Alien meets Midsommar in this chilling debut adult novel from award-winning author Andrew Joseph White about identity, survival, and transformation amidst an alien invasion in rural West Virginia.

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.

Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.

You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a deeply personal horror; a visceral statement about the lives of marginalized people in a hostile world, echoing the works of Stephen Graham Jones and Eric LaRocca.

[salty-horse]

Night & Day edited by Ellen Datlow is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

A horror anthology edited by the genre’s greatest, Ellen Datlow, with one side featuring stories about what haunts the night while the other side showcases the terrors that can exist in the light of day in this new addition to the Saga Doubles series.

Original fiction. Recent release.
Contents: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?1070524

[ZodWallop]

Shadow on the Sun by Richard Matheson is $3 at Amazon only. A supernatural western by Matheson.

Originally published as a mass-market Western in 1994, Shadow on the Sun has been out of print for years and was largely overlooked by horror fans and general readers.
Now at last this forgotten tale of supernatural terror returns to chill the blood of Matheson's many fans.
Southwest Arizona, a century ago. An uneasy true exists between the remote frontier community of Picture City and the neighboring Apaches. That delicate peace is shredded when the bodies of two white men are found hideously mutilated. The angry townspeople are certain the "savages" have broken the treaty, but Billjohn Finley, the local Indian agent, fears that darker, more unholy forces may be at work. There's a tall, dark stranger in town, who rode in wearing the dead men's clothes. A stranger who may not be entirely human...

[salty-horse]

ITCH! by Gemma Amor is $1 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Josie is at rock bottom, living a haunted existence after returning to her isolated hometown on the edge of the Forest of Dean. When she stumbles across a decaying, ant-infested body in the woods, Josie plummets into a downward spiral, facing uncomfortable truths about the victim and her own past - all whilst battling a growing infestation of her mind . . . and her flesh.

Desperate to solve the case, Josie scratches the surface of an age-old mystery - a masked predator stalks the forest around Ellwood, a place deeply gripped by folklore. As the village prepares for its annual festival, Josie gets closer and closer to unveiling a monster, and begins to ask herself:

Are these dark crawling insects leading her to uncover the truth? Or is she their next victim?

[salty-horse]

All the Beautiful Sinners by Stephen Graham Jones is $2 on Amazon.com (only)
Reissue of the 2003 novel.

This novel "masterfully plays with the serial killer genre, walking a line between convention and invention and delving into the psychology of both killer and detective" (Publishers Weekly).
For more than eight years, a serial killer has been stalking the country, visiting towns with biblical names and leaving pairs of victims behind—one female and one male, their bodies broken and twisted to create the same gruesome scene over and over again.
In rural Nazareth, Texas, a Native American man suspected of shoplifting shoots and kills the local sheriff, then takes off running. Found in the trunk of the shoplifter's abandoned car? Two decaying bodies that match the serial killer's chosen prey. Seeking vengeance for the death of the lawman, Deputy Sheriff Jim Doe goes AWOL, embarking on a cross-country manhunt with the FBI following close behind.
From town to town, Doe finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of myth and mayhem, as a storm builds from the menacing clouds of both his—and the killer's—tragic pasts . . .

[salty-horse]

The Haunting of Velkwood by Gwendolyn Kiste is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Winner of the 2025 Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel
Finalist for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Award

From Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes an “emotionally devastating, character driven ghost story” (CrimeReads) about three childhood friends who miraculously survive the night everyone in their suburban hometown turned to ghosts—perfect for fans of Yellowjackets.

The Velkwood Vicinity was the topic of occult theorists, tabloid one-hour documentaries, and even some pseudo-scientific investigations as the block of homes disappeared behind a near-impenetrable veil that only three survivors could enter—and only one has in the past twenty years, until now.

Talitha Velkwood has avoided anything to do with the tragedy that took her mother and eight-year-old sister, drifting from one job to another, never settling anywhere or with anyone, feeling as trapped by her past as if she was still there in the small town she so desperately wanted to escape from. When a new researcher tracks her down and offers to pay her to come back to enter the vicinity, Talitha claims she’s just doing it for the money. Of all the crackpot theories over the years, no one has discovered what happened the night Talitha, her estranged, former best friend Brett, and Grace, escaped their homes twenty years ago. Will she finally get the answers she’s been looking for all these years, or is this just another dead end?

Award-winning author Gwendolyn Kiste has created an “eerie and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) suburban ghost story about a small town that trapped three young women who must confront the past if they’re going to have a future.

A Child Alone with Strangers by Philip Fracassi is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

“Fracassi’s novel hits me like a cross between McCammon and '80s King. Might be one of them summer blockbusters readers love.” —**Laird Barron, author of Worse Angels

"A Child Alone with Strangers starts out as a slow burn procedural with supernatural elements and inexorably cranks itself into a pulse-pounding symphony of eldritch horrors and all-too-human violence. Philip Fracassi is the best sort of horror writer--one who is unafraid to hunt for light in even the darkest places."** —Shaun Hamill, author of A Cosmology of Monsters

When young Henry Thorne is kidnapped and held prisoner in a remote farmhouse surrounded by miles of forest, he finds himself connecting with a strange force living in the woods—using that bond to wreak havoc against his captors. Unknown to the boy, however, is that this ancient being has its own reasons for wanting the interlopers gone—there is something hidden beneath the house, tucked away in the dark, damp root cellar . . . waiting for its return.

[salty-horse]

The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre by Philip Fracassi is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

AN INSTANT USA TODAY BESTSELLER!
A Best Horror Book of 2025! (BookBub, Vulture, Men's Health)**

Brimming with dark humor, violence, and mystery, The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre is a blood-soaked slasher sure to keep readers guessing until the very last page.

Rose DuBois is not your average final girl.

Rose is in her late 70s, living out her golden years at the Autumn Springs Retirement Home.

When one of her friends dies alone in her apartment, Rose isn’t too concerned. Accidents happen, especially at this age!

Then another resident drops dead. And another. With bodies stacking up, Rose can’t help but wonder: are these accidents? Old age? Or something far more sinister?

Together with her best friend Miller, Rose begins to investigate. The further she digs, the more convinced she becomes: there’s a killer on the loose at Autumn Springs, and if she isn’t careful, Rose may be their next victim.

[salty-horse]

Spread Me by Sarah Gailey is $3 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

An instant USA Today bestseller! Named one of the Best Horror Books of 2025 by Vulture!

Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, author of Just Like Home. A routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay.

Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach.

When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the longer it's there, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer.

One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....

[salty-horse]

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

A group of friends investigates the mystery of a strange staircase in the woods in this mesmerizing horror novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Accidents.

“Chuck Wendig weaves his magic once more, turning a lonely staircase in the woods into a searing, propulsive, dread-filled exploration of the horrors of knowing and being known.”—Kiersten White, author of Hide and Lucy Undying

Five high school friends are bonded by an oath to protect one another no matter what.

Then, on a camping trip in the middle of the forest, they find something extraordinary: a mysterious staircase to nowhere.

One friend walks up—and never comes back down. Then the staircase disappears.

Twenty years later, the staircase has reappeared. Now the group returns to find the lost boy—and what lies beyond the staircase in the woods. . . .

[salty-horse]

The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

Jordan Peele’s Us meets The School For Good Mothers in this horror-tinged intergenerational saga, as a single mother’s doppelganger forces her to confront the legacy of violence that has shaped every woman in their family.

Single mother Alice Chow is drowning. With a booming online cloth diaper shop, her resentful teenage daughter Luna, and her screen-obsessed son Luca, Alice can never get everything done in a day. It’s all she can do to just collapse on the couch with a bottle of wine every night.

It’s a relief when Alice wakes up one morning and everything has been done. The counters are clear, the kids’ rooms are tidy, orders are neatly packed and labeled. But no one confesses they’ve helped, and Alice doesn’t remember staying up late. Someone–or something–has been doing her chores for her.

Alice should be uneasy, but the extra time lets her connect with her children and with her hard-edged mother, who begins to share their haunted family history from Alice’s great-grandmother, a comfort woman during WWII, through to Alice herself. But the family demons, both real and subconscious, are about to become impossible to ignore.

Sharp and incisive, The Hunger We Pass Down traces the ways intergenerational trauma transforms from mother to daughter, and asks what it might take to break that cycle.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by salty-horse

The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

That sounds great! Partly like the old cobbler and the elves tale.

I thought I'd pick up The Staircase in the Woods while I was shopping, but that's back to full price.

[Cactus Chef]

Dangerous Visions (The Dangerous Visions Series) by Harlan Ellison is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

WITH A NEW FOREWORD BY PATTON OSWALT

Dubbed “the most significant and controversial SF book” of its generation, Harlan Ellison’s groundbreaking collection launched an entire subgenre: New Wave science fiction. With contributions from legendary authors and multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Dangerous Visions returns to print in a stunning new edition perfect for new and returning fans alike.

A landmark short-story collection that put the more character-based New Wave science fiction on the map, Dangerous Visions won several prestigious awards and was nominated for many others. This now-classic anthology includes thirty-three stories by thirty-two award-winning authors, over half of whom have won multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards. Contributing authors include: Robert Silverberg, Frederik Pohl, Brian W. Aldiss, Philip K. Dick, Larry Niven, Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Theodore Sturgeon, J. G. Ballard, Samuel R. Delany, and Ellison himself.

As relevant now as it was when first published, Dangerous Visions is a phenomenal collection that deserves a place on every bookshelf.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Cactus Chef

Dangerous Visions (The Dangerous Visions Series) by Harlan Ellison is $2 in the US (Kobo, Amazon)

I have all three of those, though I have mixed feelings on the changes made to The Last Dangerous Visions.