4 Terrifying New Releases from Indie and Small Presses in May 2025

This beautiful anthology gathers folk horror stories rooted in the collective and scattered Asian cultures around the world.

Edited by KP Kulski, this collection features work by Ai Jiang, Nadia Bulkin, Lee Murray, J.A.W. McCarthy, and more.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on May 6th by Bad Hand Books!

Advertised as “The Great Gatsby meets Hellraiser,” this book is captivating.

Mabel Rose Dixon wants nothing more than to be a Ziegfield girl—and she'll do anything to achieve it. To keep herself afloat on her journey to fame, she picks the pockets of New York City's wealthy elite.

After stealing from the wrong person, Mabel ends up losing her soul to a demonic hotel. But down in the Grand Hotel, anyone can be a star.

Performing every night to a crowded theater, all of Mabel's dreams have come true. There's just one catch: if she doesn't steal her soul back before the Grand's May's Eve Ball, she will transform into a demon forever.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on May 6th by CLASH Books!

Ken Allenwood was once a beloved horror author. Now, he spends his days in an elder care facility, losing one precious memory at a time.

His life is strange and long—after all, he's over 130 years old. Unless he isn't, and his memories are just interweaving with his works of fiction…

Elijah is a boy with a love of the creepy. As his single mother struggles to keep a roof over their heads, he spends most of his time across the street with his uncle Tierny.

Tierny is one of Mr. Allenwood's carers, which means Elijah is blessed with afternoons overflowing with scary movies and the old man's bizarre stories.

Things change when vicious, senseless killings plague their small town. When Elijah tells Mr. Allenwood about what's happening, he becomes determined to use his rare moments of clarity to find the truth behind the slayings.

But the truth is this: a monster with a hankering for blood has come to town. A monster that has crawled from the very recesses of Mr. Allenwood's mind.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on May 13th by Dead Sky Publishing!

Emma has sunk into a deep hole of depression. In response, she is in search of a depraved serial killer who will end her life in the most horrific way imaginable.

When she gets cold feet over this deadly arrangement, she finds that her selected murderer is host to a parasite from another dimension—a dimension which feeds on extreme pleasure and pain.

The creature shifts its focus to Emma, plaguing her with the warring sensations of ecstasy and guilt. But the killer that has been abandoned by the parasite must now look back on a century of horrific murders.

This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on May 27th by Ghost Orchid Press!