It’s time for Summer Scares, and the popular horror-reading program is in fine form again. Shelf Care host Susan Maguire spoke to librarian Becky Spratford, author Kendare Blake, and Booklist’s Julia Smith about this year’s selections for adult, teen, and middle-grade readers; transgressive horror; and Hellmouth Pokémon, as you do. She also spoke to Jocelyn Codner and Carina Stopenski, both of the Horror Writers Association’s Library Advisory Council, about the Summer Scares program guide, why libraries should serve horror readers, and what they’re reading and loving.
Here’s what we talked about:
Summer Scares Resource Page
Find Him Where You Left Him Dead, by Kristen Simmons
iRead Summer 2025: Level Up at Your Library
The Getaway, by Lamar Giles
Devils unto Dust, by Emma Berquist
Reprieve, by James Han Mattson
Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes, by Eric LaRocca
The Luminous Dead, by Caitlin Starling
Summer Scares webinars: for Adult, YA, and Middle Grade
All These Bodies, by Kendare Blake
In Every Generation, by Kendare Blake
Summer Scares Program Guide
HWA Young Adults Write Now scholarship
(or email libraries@horror.org)
Stoker Con 2025 Librarians’ Day
Stag Dance, by Torrey Peters
Detransition, Baby, by Torrey Peters
It Came from the Trees, by Ally Russell
Hide and Seeker, by Daka Hermon
Ravenous Things, by Derrick Chow
Eerie Tales from the School of Screams, by Graham Annable, art by the author
Skunk and Badger, by Amy Timberlake, illustrated by Jon Klassen
The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest, by Aubrey Hartman, illustrated by Macin Minor
Bad Badger: A Love Story, by Maryrose Wood, illustrated by Giulia Ghigini
Reluctant Witch, by Melissa Marr
