Our Cut of Salt (2026) Deena Helm "Painfully timely and poignant, it's a testament to Helm's mastery of the craft that Our Cut of Salt is horrifying even in its quiet moments. . . Deena Helm is a generational talent."
Teddy Bears Never Die (2026) Cho Yeeun "Cho Yeeun's ability to balance sheer bloody wackiness with genuinely touching moments of friendship against all odds is absolutely singular."
Dark is When the Devil Comes (2026) Daisy Pearce "Pearce strikes the perfect balance between the unforgiving tightrope of tension and pacing that's so expected of a thriller, and the creeping, impermeable dread of the best horror."
The Night is Not For You (2025) Eman Quotah "Quotah's portrayal of a young girl grappling not only with herself, but with the true nature of the world - in and out of the murky light of human monstrosity - is painfully earnest, and one that feels both necessary and timely. She paints us a world that feels ripe for the taking, much like the flowers that make up Layla's perfumes, but also foreign and warped. This is a book that I will return to time and time again, particularly when the world feels vibrant and violent."
Moonflow (2025) Bitter Karella "Wow-what a trip. Literally! The kind of book that you have to strap into, because it's going to buck you off if you're not prepared. There's genuinely no predicting what the hell awaits you around the next bend. This book is a prime example of why horror will literally always be timely and necessary; it finds beauty in the grotesque with some of the most stomach-turning description and heartfelt self-exploration I've ever read. I can honestly say that this is the first time that I've been genuinely scared by a book. Moonflow is simultaneously a Tarantino car chase sequence and an Ari Aster monster reveal; it's fun, and it's disgusting, and it's just a damn good time. But at the heart of it all, it's a bleeding, beating heart and an earnest heroine just trying to make it work."
