September is our first step into fall, which means that spooky season is right around the corner. For normal people, that is; at The Lineup, it's spooky season all year round.
Some of us are returning to classes and others are simply trading their pool floats for pumpkins. But we should all be checking out the exciting new horror books hitting shelves this month.
Whether you're ready to sink your teeth into a vampire book unraveling social horrors or looking to dive into a disorienting tale of pagan terrors, we've got exactly what you need.
Here are four of our most anticipated horror books from indie and small presses this September!
American Ghoul
Lavinia is a recently freed slave when she meets Simone Simone Arceaneau, a recently turned vampire. Post-Civil War Georgia has nothing left to offer either of them, so the pair forge a quick friendship and head up north.
But partnering up with a white woman—undead or otherwise—seems to be more of a challenge than she thought. It's not just that Simone is reckless and impulsive, it's that her special diet makes everything all the more complicated.
Time and time again, Lavinia must compromise her morals. And as she fumbles to build human connection, she can't help but think she's simply stepped out of one kind of enslavement and into another.
Now as Simone's victims start to pile up in Indiana, the locals grow suspicious. But as Lavinia sits in jail for killing her mistress, all she has to cling to is that you can't kill someone who's already dead.
This book is now available now from Blackstone Publishing!
Not a Speck of Light
Are you ready to go to a level of darkness you've never traversed before? In this riveting short story collection, Laird Barron delivers 16 weird tales that will have you groping for the light switch.
This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on September 10th by Bad Hand Books!
Chopping Spree
The 80s-inspired mall isn't the only thing special about Eden Hills, Minnesota. This town is also famous for its growing number of missing persons, an epidemic which disproportionately affects the local youths and baffles the authorities.
Penny, a junior in high school, doesn't buy the town's official story, but as she's just started her first job at one of the trendiest stores in the mall, she doesn't want to look like a conspiracy nut. She has a reputation to cling to for the sake of her cool new friends and the cute popular guy who might heal her broken heart over her dream girl.
However, after a late-night mall party turns deadly, Penny will have to stand up and speak her mind. There's no room for cool when a killer is on the loose.
This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on September 24th by Dark Matter INK!
Withered Hill
Sophie Wickham's life in London is utter chaos, filled with drunken nights, boring work, and men who like to cross a line. And things get even crazier when she starts to receive cryptic messages warning her that someone—or something—is coming for her.
As the messages become more insistent, she has no idea who to trust or what to do. But the warnings urge her to go to a place called Withered Hill…
A year ago, Sophie arrived in the remote Lancashire village of Withered Hill naked, alone, and without a single memory of who she is. The woods surround the village in a thick ring, and the inhabitants are devoted to peculiar pagan traditions.
As she fights to remember anything from her past, it's clear she's not a guest, but rather a prisoner. But is it the smiling villagers keeping her here, or something more sinister in the woods?
Unfolding through a dual timeline, this folk horror novel will keep you on the edge of your seat.
This book is now available for pre-order, and will be released on September 26th by Canelo Horror!
Want more indie horror? Check these books out:
A Year of Terror: Take a Look Back at the Best Indie Horror Books of 2023
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5 Terrifying New Releases from Indie and Small Presses in June 2024
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Featured image: Mitch Harris/Unsplash