2026 Horror Preview pt 2

New to the ARC Party? If you’re new here, I’ll explain why this episode is so cool. Every six months, I get together with two of the most informed and well-read people in the horror book world… Becky Spratford: Becky Spratford [MLIS] is a Librarian in Illinois specializing in serving patrons ages 13 and up. She trains library staff all over the world on how to match books with readers through the local public library. She runs the critically acclaimed RA training blog RA for All, writes reviews for Booklist and a Horror review column for Library Journal. Becky has been an elected Library Trustee and a former Board member for both the Reaching Across Illinois Library System and the Illinois Library Association. Known for her work with Horror readers. Becky is the author of three text books for library workers and the Locus Award nominated and Bram Stoker Award winning Why I Love Horror [Saga Press, 2025]. Becky was named one of the Chicago Tribune’s Chicagoans of the Year in 2025. She is on the Shirley Jackson Award Advisory Board and is a proud member of the Horror Writers Association, currently serving as the Association’s Secretary and Co-Chair of their Libraries Committee. and Emily Hughes: Emily C. Hughes (she/her) is the Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Horror For Weenies: Everything You Need to Know About the Films You’re Too Scared to Watch and the co-founder of Darker Times, a worker-owned magazine about horror and culture. You can find her writing elsewhere in the New York Times Book Review, Vulture, Slate, Reactor Magazine, Electric Literature, Nightmare Magazine, Thrillist, and more. Emily lives in crunchy western Massachusetts with her husband and four idiot cats. … and we spend a couple of hours talking about books that we’re super excited to read in the coming six months. We each choose two books per month, and go around sharing what we know about them. It’s a ton of fun, and it gives us an opportunity to talk up dozens of books. To date we have highlighted 219 books! That’s a lotta reads. And remember, books don’t have an expiration date, so feel free to go back in my YouTube playlist at the end of this entry, and get some recommendations from 2024 and 2025 as well! Don’t forget to support your hosts! * Keep coming back for my monthly Horror TBR list episodes! * Becky’s book won multiple Bram Stoker Awards at this year’s StokerCon! * Subscribe to Emily’s new horror magazine: Darker Times The Books! July Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkley Home Sick by Rhiannon Grist Carry Me To My Grave by Christopher Golden The Flayed Man by Chloe Lauter Caught in the In-Between by Alyson Hasson August A Plagued Sea by Kim Bo-Young The Hill in the Dark Grove by Liam Higginson Calamities by Chuck Wendig The Minimalist by Kailee Pedersen The Burn Line by Jonathan Sims Arson By Design by Tyler Jones September Kiss, Slay, Replay by Rachel Harrison Blacktail by Scott Hawkins Something of a Calling by Zoje Stage Mazywood bt Tananarieve Due American Nightmare by Kelly McWilliams The Nudge by Joseph Fink We Turn Gruesome at Night by Eric LaRocca Incarnate by Alma Katsu Something Followed Us Home ed. by Cynthia Pelayo Never Whistle At Night II: Back for Blood ed. Shane Hawk and Theodore C Van Alst Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm The Ship of Death by Kyle Winkler Observer by Nicholas Russell Crone by Keith Rosson The Rouse by China Miéville Worry Box by Chris Panatier Pictures of You by Josh Malerman October Off The Reservation by Stephen Graham Jones Carrying by Samantha Josephs Savage Lake by Nick Medina Milk Teeth by Caitlin Starling The Unhaunting by Micaiah Johnson Find Me Where It Ends by Cassandra Khaw November Depth Charge by Tyler Jones Annex of the Obscure vol. 1 by Mo Moshaty Welcome Home Miriam by Sanchita Mitra There Used To Be People Here by Kennedy Cole December Dive by Allison Mick Motherfucking Sharks by Brian Allen Carr Vampire Menstrual Syndrome by SC Hunter See ALL of our recommendations from over the years on my YouTube Playlist: Horror Preview Playlist: 219 Horror Books from 2024 to 2026! For those who prefer YouTube: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thearcparty.com/subscribe