5 Recent and Upcoming Horror Novellas to Add to Your TBR Pile

Nadia Bulkin is without a doubt one of the most exciting and innovative voices in horror and weird fiction today.

Her debut collection, She Said Destroy, took the genre world by storm in 2017, and her short fiction is regularly among the most inventive work available to horror fans.

Issues with Authority, her forthcoming collection from Ghoulish Books, is not only a major release of the year but also features two novellas. First up, “Red Skies in the Morning,” her Ring-inspired tale that was released last year as a limited edition chapbook with Dim Shores, will be part of the collection's table of contents.

And if that isn’t enough to make you pre-order, then her brand-new novella, “Cop Car,” about a psychic government fixer, sounds beyond intriguing.

Add those two novellas to a collection that also includes the Cronenbergian novelette, “Your Next Best American Girl,” and you’ve got one book that absolutely deserves a top spot on your TBR pile. 

Coming this October from Titan Books, The Cold House follows writer Everly, who recently lost her husband and daughter in a tragic accident.

Adding to her grief is the fact that her husband kept secrets from her, not the least of which was that he was very wealthy, leaving her his sizeable estate.

But when Everly goes to a country house to recover, she soon learns that there are even more secrets than meet the eye, as a strange well in the cellar calls out to her in the dark. A.G. Slatter has long been one of my favorite speculative fiction authors, so needless to say, I’m super eager to see exactly what she has in store for us with The Cold House.

No doubt it will be chilling and one-of-a-kind. 

Mad Axe Media recently burst onto the horror scene with some of the most thrilling books and authors in the genre. Add Birthday Party Demon, to their growing list of fantastic titles. This super fun novella, which came out in February, more than lives up to its high concept.

A slumber party goes horribly awry when teenager Lacey gets possessed by a demon and imprisons her two friends, Tina and Eve, in a fashion catalog.

If that setup doesn’t get your attention, then I don’t know what will. Plus, anything that name-checks Jennifer’s Body as inspiration goes immediately on my TBR pile.

If nothing else, keep Wendy Dalrymple on your radar; she’s a new voice in horror who’s worth keeping an eye on. 

Lindy Ryan is a name you should recognize. Among the most talented and hardworking authors and editors in horror today—and a recent double Bram Stoker Award nominee—Ryan never goes more than a few months without a new anthology or novel with her name on it.

Suffice it to say, we’re lucky to live in a time when she’s writing. Case in point: Cold Snap. Released in 2024 from Titan Books, this book proves she’s just as effective at novella-length works as she is at short fiction and novels.

Mourning the recent death of her husband, Christine takes her son to a remote cabin to spend the holidays together. At first, it seems like the perfect way to deal with their collective grief.

That is, until a strange figure appears outside in the cold, calling Christine’s name in a voice that’s all too familiar. This novella will keep you on the edge of your seat and break your heart at the same time.  

When a book is promoted as “The Shape of Water meets Mexican Gothic,” then you know you’ve got to take serious notice.

Released in February from Tor.com (now reactormag.com), this enigmatic novella opens with the death of the so-called keeper of the keys, necessitating an immediate replacement in an old, mysterious house.

Enter Dália, who’s been waiting her whole life for this. What unfurls is a beautiful and brutal fever dream in which a humanoid spider with a penchant for laudanum and human brides threatens to destroy everything in her path, Dália included.

With sapphic and gothic themes, this isn’t quite like anything you’ve read before, so be sure to put But Not Too Bold on your reading list as soon as you can.