4 Light Horror Novels for Scaredy Cats (Plus, a Bonus for All Access Members)

Allegedly author Tiffany D. Jackson’s retelling of Stephen King’s Carrie centers on Maddy, a biracial girl growing up in a sundown town in Georgia, where proms are segregated and nobody knows her mother was Black. Bullied mercilessly once her secret comes out, Maddy discovers her potent magical abilities—abilities that frighten her father and make Maddy question everything she knows about herself and her history.

Seventeen-year-old Farrah has grown accustomed to the country-club lifestyle her parents provide. But when something happens that may pull Farrah away from the posh life she loves so much, she plots to stay. Farrah worms her way into the lives of her best friend Cherish’s family. She’s a master manipulator, but she may have met her match against Cherish’s parents.

An Oscar-nominated screenwriter discovers what happens when you stand up to the algorithm in this tongue-in-cheek horror novel from Chuck Tingle. Misha is gay, and he refuses to kill off one of his gay characters for the sake of company profits. That decision sparks a haunting, as Misha’s movie monsters begin hunting him. He’ll have to use all his wits and resources to survive and conquer in Bury Your Gays.

“Bluebeard” meets The Stepford Wives in Catherynne M. Valente’s Comfort Me with Apples. Sophia is the perfect wife for her beloved husband. Every day, she wakes up in a beautiful home in a cookie-cutter neighborhood she never has to leave. Her husband works, and she stays home. Life is good. Or is it? Sophia doesn’t know why she can’t go into the basement. She doesn’t know what to do with the evidence of other women scattered around her house. And she doesn’t know why any woman would break the neighborhood HOA’s rules. She’s a good wife. Just curious.

Perhaps too curious.