Best Horror Books Of 2023 Novels & Stories

“I’m just saying, if I do become immortal, I'll never work a night shift again. Ever. I will haunt the rich exclusively.” I snorted. “You already do that.” She grinned. “Practice makes perfect.” Then it happened. A scream tore through the night. Not a drunk’s yell. Not laughter. Not a lover’s argument spilling into the street. This was pain—pure, ripping, animal. Mae froze. So did I. Another scream followed. Closer. Then another, layered over it, deeper and broken short like someone choking on their own blood. My stomach dropped. “That’s not—” Mae started.

He was lying near the fire pit. I thought he was sleeping at first. Then I noticed the way his arm was bent. Too stiff. I walked closer without meaning to. His eyes were open. They were staring at the sky. There was dark red on his shirt. I didn’t understand it immediately. Then my stomach flipped. Dead. He was dead. I stepped back quickly and my heel hit something. I almost fell. My scream came out before I could stop it. It was loud. It sounded like it belonged to someone else.

he added before walking away, disappearing into the crowd like he’d never been there at all. Ari’s legs felt like lead as she watched him go. Her chest ached with the weight of a desire she couldn’t name, couldn’t fight, and maybe didn’t want to. And then she heard it: a low, mournful howl that rolled over the city rooftops, echoing through the alleys and streets. It wasn’t human. It wasn’t animal. It was something in between. Ari’s blood ran cold. The city, the danger, the man she shouldn’t want—it was all connected. And she had a feeling she’d just stepped into a world where the rules didn’t apply.

I steeled myself and opened the door. The hallway was awash in red. Smears and spatters of bright and dark blood covered the walls, the floor, and my door. My head reeled. What the hell happened? Why was there so much blood outside my door? Hadn't the guy in 603 seen it through his peephole? I couldn't help looking toward apartment 603. To my surprise, the door stood half-open, and it was dead quiet inside. I picked my way past the bloodstains and made my way to apartment 603.

I apologize. But for those who like it, don't forget to check my other book. I also have a new ongoing one (PULSE: A CONTRACT WITH DAMIEN.) A seven in one book. Let's give you a sneak peek shall we? Vampires -Death. Fae's - Darkness. Demons - Agony. Werewolves - Curse. Humans - Fear. Witches/ Warlocks/ and Beasts - Dark magic. DOOM(HELL) - ALL. ALL THE SPECIES AND THEIR TRIBULATIONS.

For a moment, he just stood there with furrowed brows, his orbs fixed on the cover. “Zombies are Real?” he read, tapping his fingers on the book. Taking a deep breath, he averted his gaze to the books seated next to them. Using his free hand, he grabbed one. “Supernatural Being.” With his lips curled, he scanned them from back-to-front cover. Immediately after, his mind drifted without prior warning. Something about the titles probed his guts. He just didn’t know what. Should he believe these zombies and supernatural beings were true? If not, how could he explain what he’d seen the night before?

Come pick a bouquet from these Flowers in a Dumpster. Eidolon Avenue: The First Feast by Jonathan Winn—where the secretly guilty go to die. All thrown into their own private hell as every cruel choice, every deadly mistake, every drop of spilled blood is remembered, resurrected and relived to feed the ancient evil that lives on Eidolon Avenue. Through a Mirror, Darkly by Kevin Lucia—Are there truths within the books we read? What if the book delves into the lives of the very town you live in? People you know? Or thought you knew. These are the questions a bookstore owner face when a mysterious book shows up.

CHAPTER 4 Later he heard a loud eerie cry that understandably scared him. Headless people, junkies, drifter, hobos. For some weird reason, he always had a pathological fear of ending up like these people. Maybe it was ignorance. These types always seemed naturally repellent magic. Instead of repulsion and fear, he now felt a completely different emotion towards them: jealousy. Some of them might have been mental, granted, but some of them just didn’t care.

I stayed with Adley in her small living room, watching horror movies about creatures that didn’t exist in this world, until darkness smothered the outside world, peeking in through the sheer curtains that made their living room feel all too exposed. “Zombies always give me the creeps.” Adley shuddered, “There’s something so scary about coming back from the dead, having your face and limbs rot like that. Bleh, no thank you.” “I can’t be afraid of zombies, not when things like ghouls and Librarian’s exist.” I let out a hearty laugh, trying to imagine a hoard of zombies maneuvering through the forest at night.

She kind of looked like a demon. Carefully as not to startle her, he settled on the opposite side of their table and asked in a low voice, "What are you looking for?" The books she stacked on the table caught his attention. "'The Expanded History of Death'," he read the titles aloud, "'Funerals through the Ages'. 'Life after Death: the Existence of the Afterlife'. 'Creatures of the Night'. Are you trying to know more about Hellborns and the Underworld?" Calix was a lot of things, but unfortunately, he wasn't thick, Kat lamented. "Yes."