2026 Horror Preview pt 2

Books we're looking forward to for July through December

Robb Olson

Jun 24, 2026

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!