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The Buffalo Hunter Hunter

Stephen Graham Jones

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A chilling historical horror novel set in the American west in 1912 following a Lutheran priest who transcribes the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor, is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow.

Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits.

This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones.

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Posts about this title from Discotopia | Diverse Books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Dec 30 2025

Hi folks! \ \ The year is almost up, here’s my last bookish roundup! All books by BIPOC authors with BIPOC MCs.\ \ A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna\ \ Cosy, cute, found family, zombie rooster. My top BIPOC read of the year, and I blurbed the proof!\ \ \ \ Red City by Marie Lu\ \ Rival alchemists, one Chinese, one Indian. An incredible fantasy world with high stakes and a heart wrenching romance.\ \ (S)kin by Ibi Zoboi\ \ A verse novel about Caribbean fire witches, family secrets, and two teenage girls trying to survive their inner nature.\ \ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones\ \ An incredible indigenous historical vampire book, the writing is dense but impeccable.\ \ Wicked Flavors by Azalea Crowley\ \ An autistic doll collector strikes a supernatural deal a mysterious antique dealer with a cane (both are also mixed heritage). Absolute carnage ensues.\ \ Dulhaniyaa by Talia Bhatt.\ \ A Desi lesbian romance with a transfemme love interest. Dancing, romance and bonkers Bollywood vibes.\ \ Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai.\ \ A queer Japanese boy finds a century old diary of a woman who sings for ghosts. Beautiful Madam Butterfly retelling. \ \ Katabasis by R.F. Kuang\ \ Two PHD students, one Chinese, travel to academic hell to find their supervisor. It’s basically one long in-joke/nod to academia, which I enjoyed, but definitely not for everyone!\ \ Here to Slay by Radhika Sanghani\ \ Buffy but with sapphic British-Indian demon slayers. SO fun.\ \ Marigold Mind Laundry by Junguen Yun\ \ A bittersweet, melancholy Korean fantasy about a lonely immortal woman opening a laundry to wash away people’s bad memories, finding a new family along the way.\ \ Happy New Year everyone!\ \ Disco x

Top 10 BIPOC books of 2025

9 books

Discotopia | Diverse Books\ \ Disco (he/they)\ \ • Jun 29 2025

Hi there Disco Dancers!\ \ I hope you’re surviving the heat. I’ve just realised we’re halfway through the year, madness! To mark the occasion I’ll be doing a TikTok about my top 10 reads so far this year. That’ll come out later this week, but wanted to give you folks first look and a handy list.\ \ Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose\ \ \ \ Food magic, queer normative, angry revolution, eat the rich!!\ \ A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna\ \ \ \ Cosy, cute, found family, zombie rooster!\ \ Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove\ \ \ \ Monsters in space, queer AI, more found family.\ \ Songs for Ghosts by Clara Kumagai\ \ \ \ Queer teenage angst, Madam Butterfly retelling, beautiful prose, family secrets\ \ The Saint of Heartbreak by Morgan Dante\ \ \ \ Judas x Lucifer love story, very sad bois, slowest of slow burns, literally thousands of years\ \ Self Made Boys by Anne-Marie McLemore\ \ \ \ The Great Gatsby but they’re both transmasc, the romance, oh the romance\ \ (S)Kin by Ibi Zoboi\ \ \ \ Poetry novel, Caribbean folklore, fire witches, I just want to be a normal girl\ \ The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A.\ \ \ \ Runaway nun becomes a transmasc highwayman, meets another transmasc highwayman, shenanigans\ \ A Gentleman’s Gentleman by TJ Alexander\ \ \ \ A transmasc Earl who doesn’t want a valet but gets a handsome valet and regrets everything (but not really)\ \ Tradwife by TC Parker\ \ \ \ Queer investigator looks into unsolved murders in a Tradwife community, everyone’s a suspect, fictional true crime\ \ Special mention - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. I’m only halfway through this but it’s SO good so far.\ \ \ \ All the best,\ \ Disco

First Look: my top ten books of the year so far

11 books

Posts about this book from across Bindery

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jul 20

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some horror books I adore written by Indigenous authors!

📚 books mentioned: - Taaqtumi: An Anthology of Arctic Horror Stories - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Moon of the Crusted Snow by Waubgeshig Rice - The Unfinished by Cheryl Isaacs

👗💄: - shirt is from Anthropologie, rented from Nuuly - eyeshadow is Sickly Sweet Palette from Blend Bunny Cosmetics - eyeliner is Vegan Longwear Eyeliner (Lilac) from Pacifica Beauty - mascara is from Badi Lash from Kulfi - lip combo is Matte Fix Lip Pencil (Midnight Seduction) from about-face and ShineOn Plumping Lip Jelly (Act Natural) from Tower28

thank you to Saga Press and Heartdrum / HarperCollins for the gifted copies!

#horrorbooks #indigenousbooks #nativebooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @inhabit_media @sagapressbooks @ecwpress @harpercollins @harperkids @epicreads @anthropologie @blendbunnycosmetics @pacificabeauty @kulfi.beauty @aboutfacebeauty @tower28beauty

4 books

Bee's Books\ \ Bailee Russo\ \ • Jun 26

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Wronggggggg.\ \ Now, we can have a conversation about how publishing house conglomerates and the trend-led mass-market led by an overwhelming white, straight, etc, majority creates a homogeneity of stories...sure. We can talk about that all day long.\ \ But if we do, we also need to talk about how consumers drive that market, and how our choices -- on social media feeds, on review platforms, at the bookstore -- make an impact on those publishing trends. That, I think, is a more interesting conversation.\ \ Because if we put in the effort to follow book reviewers from a diversity of perspectives, to support indie and underrepresented authors, to review the books we read with critical self-reflection, to support our local book vendors, libraries, etc...then we will find a huge, wide world of weird and wonderful literature just waiting for its audience. And in doing so, we can make an impact on publishing as a whole, too.\ \ So, here are a few unique books that I think you might love, featuring cannibalistic nuns, Faustian bargains, shape-shifting mermaids, talking animals, alternate futures, parasitic aliens, swampcore haunted cabins, cryptids, and more.\ \ Herculine by Grace Byron: an all Trans girls commune haunted by demons.\ \ The Reformatory by Tanarive Due: a segregated reform school and the evil inside.\ \ Wife Shaped Bodies by Laura Cranehill: the trad wives are sprouting mushrooms.\ \ A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft: a dark academia quest for a magic spring.\ \ Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell: a new world where all the white people have disappeared.\ \ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones: A Blackfeet vampire seeking vengeance.\ \ The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling: a medieval castle under siege and the cannibalistic fever dream that unfolds inside.\ \ What We Feed to the Manticore by Talia Lakshmi Kolluri: a collection of compelling short stories all told from the perspectives of animals.\ \ After Love by Tanya Byrne: a fantastical lesbian love story that literally transcends death itself.\ \ Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris: a grief-stricken Indigenous artist who arrives at a cabin in a remote, swampy forest, before strange things start to happen.\ \ Fate's Bane by CL Clark: sword-wielding, star-crossed lovers from rival clans, inspired by Celtic folklore.\ \ As Many Souls as Stars by Natasha Siegel: a Faustian Bargain between a witch and a demon, and their game of cat-and-mouse that spans multiple lifetimes.\ \ A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo: four teenagers hunting the local cryptic that feeds on secrets.\ \ They Bloom at Night by Trang Thanh Tran: a red algae bloom causes strange mutations in a small Louisiana town.\ \ The Seep by Chana Porter: a parasitic alien invasion that creates a strange utopia, and one woman's quest to stop its spread.\ \ The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan: a hungry sea, a family beset by grief, and a strange woman who climbs up from the water.\ \ Happy reading!\ \ -B

"Books are all the same now."

15 books

Sarah Does Bookish Stuff\ \ Sarah\ \ • Jun 15

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I finished The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and I have... so many things to say. What a book. Incredible. So well written and haunting and creating something totally new in horror books I did not expect. Where do I even begin with this one?\ \ The book is told in epistolary style, a series of journal entries within journal entries. We follow a woman in 2013 researching an old journal she found from a dead great-great-x grandfather of hers. It's about his life as a Lutheran pastor in Montana in the early 1900s and his encounter with a mysterious indigenous stranger named Good Stab. \ \ From there, a cat-and-mouse tale begins. \ \ Between Good Stab and Arthur, Good Stab and the Cat Man, and so many other characters. The web is intricately woven and expertly tied off. Jones is an incredible, thoughtful, emotional writer who makes us contend with a very real history we sweep away in America. What colonizers did for decades to the indigenous tribes in our country is nothing short of massacre, genocide, and annihilation. Not only of the indigenous people, but of everything that made them what they were. Their histories, ways of life, identities... colonizers of the American West in particular shredded and ruined so much indigenous life that the one overarching feeling I carried was shame. \ \ I know that sounds preachy, but Jones deftly shows his reader and fearlessly makes you witness the reality of it all without feeling like it's preaching at you. He understands the complexity of modern racial and ethnic identity, the layers and layers on how we all ended up here in America, and he still unflinchingly says, "Yes, I know this, and still this is the story of my people."\ \ I can't know what it's like to be an indigenous American. I know what it's like to be a descendant of Irish immigrants who came over in the early 1900s and a father who emigrated from the UK in the 1970s, but that's all. Jones gave me the opportunity to walk alongside an indigenous character and see what it was like for them to lose their land, their homes, who they were, their histories... it was heartbreaking and devastating. \ \ And he used a fully reimagined concept of vampires to do it. \ \ Yes. Vampires. \ \ This is a vampire story that makes vampires terrifying again. Drinking blood from animals changes you differently than from humans. The identity he crafts gets weaker and weaker as he mixed blood from his people with colonizers and animals and you see how the blood changes him over time. It was an incredible metaphor for the diluting and loss of indigenous tribes in such a beautifully haunting, visceral way. We listen to Good Stab tell his story and Arthur slowly realize the role he played in it. \ \ Then we see Etsy, his current-day granddaughter, unravel the threads of what he did and why Good Stab decided to tell Arthur his tale. She pulls apart the horror of knowing her kin could be part of this erasure and how she seeks forgiveness and restitution in a way that actually means something. Then we, the reader, are left understanding that what colonizers did to the American peoples can never give the restitution they deserve or require for what was done to them. \ \ Jones shows his readers how the massacre of buffalo was the death sentence of the tribes. The careless, thoughtless ways men destroyed the once-prolific source of life into extinction and how it demolished a nation we claim to love as our own. Too many people don't know about how and why the buffalo were nearly extinct in the 1800s and Jones aims to correct that in this haunting, terrible story. \ \ He made me consider myself, my role in the world, and stare into a national history that I might feel removed from, but is still a part of me whether I like it or not just as the suffering of indigenous people is a part of them whether they like it or not. \ \ Beautiful. Incredible. And my favorite quote should tell you what kind of book you're getting into.\ \ "I was America's worst nightmare. I was an Indian who could not die."

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter: The Horror is Us

1 book

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 9

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Book Review Tuesday: Our Sister’s Keeper by Jasmine Holmes

2 books

Children of Diaspora\ \ Rae the Reviewer\ \ • Jun 8

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40+ Books to Celebrate the World Cup!

What team are you rooting for?

Thank you so much @librosmeansbooks for helping me put this list together. We’ve been gushing about the friendlies and upcoming matches and the World Cup overall since @booknetfest and I’m super excited for the real action to begin ⚽️ 🥅

Please let me know any other books from these countries that you loved in the comments, there are so many on this list that I hadn’t even heard of before that have peaked my interest

#worldcup #booklist #readingrecommendations #bookstagram #readtheworld

18 books

Bee's Books\ \ Bailee Russo\ \ • Jun 1

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Some unique books for your TBR stack #weirdlit #weirdbooks #uniquebooks #bookrecs #lgbtbooks

7 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • May 16

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\ \ Welcome back to another author interview! Today I'm joined by author Mikayla Randolph as we talk about her debut novel, Not Your Final Girl.\ \ \ \ 1. I always use this first question as a chance for you to introduce yourself. Say as much or as little as you want.\ \

Hello! I’m an author based out of California who writes horror, fantasy, and thrillers. My favorite stories blend genres, invert tropes, and feature complicated characters, all while being a bloody good time. Beyond writing, I love adding too many books to my TBR pile, reading while cuddling with my dogs, and waffling between wanting to travel the world and wanting to never leave the house.\ \ 2. Your debut book Not Your Final Girl released May 5th. How have you been feeling? Excited? Overwhelmed? Everything in between?\ \ Yes! Absolutely everything, and it changes by the second. I’m frazzled, but mostly I’m feeling incredibly grateful. It’s a lifelong dream coming true, and I’m blown away by the support I’ve received. Close friends, family, former teachers, authors I've never even met, and so many members of the horror community, like you, have been so kind. The generosity and camaraderie have been astounding, and I appreciate it all so much.\ \ 3. What made you choose a slasher for your debut novel?\ \ A slasher has been on my bucket list for a long time. My first stab at it was in college, and I think it frightened my poor roommate, who was not a horror fan. Since then, I’ve written a few other novels, from a post-apocalyptic story to a western, but once this idea clicked, there was no turning back. It was such a smooth writing process, too; it bled right out of me.\ \ 4. Any specific films or media that helped influence your novel?\ \ There were so many influences, and most don't seem like they belong together. Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’urbervilles was a primary inspiration, with this being a partial retelling. Beyond that, Scream, Heathers, And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and Men, Women, and Chainsaws by Carol J. Clover. Plus every slasher novel, movie, show, or game that I’ve enjoyed since I was far too young for them to be appropriate.\ \ 5. What was your favorite scene to write? The hardest? \ \ Oh, that is difficult to answer and remain spoiler-free! For my favorite, I’ll say there is a scene with a shed, a wheelbarrow, and a surprise that was a lot of fun to write. The hardest was most likely the opening pages because I wanted to immerse the readers in that epic Final Girl climactic moment while introducing new characters.\ \ 6. Who was your favorite character to get inside the mind of? \ \ I loved them all, and bouncing between them was such a fun experience. It felt like I got to write five books in one! If I had to choose, I'd say Ashley because she challenged me the most. She is so confident and unrelenting that writing her perspective made me question how I phrase things and second-guess myself. I hope a bit of her spirit has stuck with me.\ \ 7. Are you currently working on any other projects at the moment? If so, can you drop us any hints?\ \ I’m currently querying my next novel, which I think of as a witchy X-Men horror noir. I'm also revising an "Eat the Rich" haunted house novella.\ \ 8. Tell us what you've been reading lately? Your favorite 2026 book? What books are on your backlist?\ \ I finally caught up on Something is Killing the Children and am enjoying Look What You Made Me Do, the Taylor Swift inspired horror anthology from Sobelo Books. My favorite book thus far is probably King Sorrow by Joe Hill. Sadly, I have far too many on my backlist, like Little Eve by Catriona Ward, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Gr a ham Jones, and Writhe by Abby Vail. I'm a terribly slow reader and can't seem to stop buying more books. But I refuse to feel bad about it because even if I can never read them all, they look pretty on my shelf, and I’m supporting those authors and publishers.\ \ 9. What books are you looking forward to releasing this year? How about movies?\ \ I’m so excited for Worry Box by Chris Panatier, Fabulous Bodies by Chuck Tingle, and, of course, Kiss Slay Replay from Rachel Harrison, who is an autobuy author for me. Movie wise my most anticipated was Ready or Not 2 and I loved it! I’m also looking forward to Supergirl though Woman of Tomorrow wrecked me at times.\ \ 10. Did you have a playlist that you listened to when writing your book?\ \ Yes, and I have a Spotify playlist available for it here. In particular, Chvrches’ Screen Violence album features a lot.\ \ Thank you again, Mikayla, for allowing me to do this interview! You can follow Mikayla on Instagram at mik_randolph.\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/hpT2JVTsc25eJQ6nRMiO/)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Mikayla Randolph

13 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Apr 22

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ready to dive into horror, but not totally sure where to start?

ready to dive into horror, but not totally sure where to start? i’ve got you covered 🫡

📚 books mentioned: - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark - Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas - Lakewood by Megan Giddings

👗💄: - dress is from Cider and cardigan is from Mure + Grand - eyeshadow shimmer is Dreamy from Ourbella Cosmetics - eyeliner is Epiphany Glow Melt-On (Solaris) from Kaleidos - mascara is Tartlette Tubing from Tarte Cosmetics - lip combo is Suede Matte Lip Liner (Moonwalk) from NYX Cosmetics and Jelly Job Lip Gloss (Jelly Jammin’) from NYX Cosmetics - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you to Saga Press and Berkley Books for the gifted copies!

#horrorbooks #horrorbookrecs #besthorrorbooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @sagapressbooks @tordotcompub @berkleypub @amistadbooks @harpercollins @ourbella.us @kaleidosmakeup @tartecosmetics @nyxcosmetics

horror books • books i’d recommend for people new to horror • horror book recommendations based on your favorite genre • disturbing books • unique books • diverse books • Tordotcom • Amistad Books

3 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Apr 17

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\ \ I'm bringing author interviews back on Bindery! Today I'm joined by the amazing Annie Neugebauer. Neugebauer is the author of several horror books that we will be talking about today!\ \ \ \ I have read both The Extra and The Other and loved them! I will definitely be checking out You Have To Let Them Bleed.\ \ Let's Dive into the interview!\ \ 1. I love to use this first question as an introduction. Feel free to tell us as much or as little as you want about yourself!\ \

Hi! Right now most people know me as the author of The Extra, a novella from Shortwave that has expanded into The Outsiders Sequence, a shared-universe sequence of novellas consisting of The Extra, The Other (this June), and The Spare (next March). I’m also the author of You Have to Let Them Bleed, a short story collection that’s out now. I’m also a poet, blogger, and novelist.\ \ 2.When did you first start writing? Was it always horror or did you write genres as well?\ \ I’ve always been writing, even as a young child, but I began pursuing it seriously when I graduated from college in 2007. I’ve written many novels, but I’ve built my way toward publication with poems and short stories. I love writing in many genres, but I’d say horror is my home base. I’ve been drawn to the dark side for as long as I can remember.\ \ 3. @blankets_books from instagram/bindery would like to know What was your inspiration behind The Extra? Any books or media that helped influence the book?\ \ The Extra wasn’t directly influenced by any other media, believe it or not. I had not yet even seen The Thing, its most common comparison. (I have now; it’s stellar!) The idea of an extra person came to me organically, and the protagonist and situation were inspired by my husband’s former job.\ \ 4.Do you go camping and hiking? If so, what has been your favorite trail/campground?\ \ I love camping and hiking! I’m never happier than when I’m outside somewhere beautiful. Camping in the San Juan Mountains in Colorado is by far my favorite area to return to. I’ve also had beautiful experiences in Austria, Hawaii, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. One of my most memorable hikes was the Glacier Gorge trail (9 miles) in the Rocky Mountain National Park.\ \ 5. You also have a short story collection called You Have to Let Them Bleed that released in March. Care to tell us a little more about that one? Do you have a favorite story from it?\ \ You Have to Let Them Bleed brings together some of my most successful short fiction from almost two decades of publishing stories. It’s framed by a “collector” who’s gathering shadowlings and sorting them by color. Probably the most well-known story is “So Sings the Siren.” I don’t have a favorite per say, but I’m really proud of and excited about the original in the collection, “The Baby.” It’s just wackadoo in the best way. Folks are loving it.\ \ 6. What can you tell us about The Spare (releasing 3/9/27), the third book in The Outsiders Sequence? \ \ The Spare takes place in the Texas Panhandle at a family camping reunion. As with each of these novellas, the less you know about it going in, the more enjoyable the actual read is. I will say that it, like The Other, is not a direct continuation of storyline and characters from the first two books, but it does bring in elements from each in a way that makes them all most satisfying when read in order. It shares the same tense vibes and unsettling concepts as the first two.\ \ 7. Do you have any writing routines or rituals that help you write?\ \ I wish! I prefer to write at home in a quiet setting, no music or background noise, with my computer setup that includes a special mouse that helps my wrists/shoulder. Other than that, I write when I can through the hecticness of parenting and working. Weekends, evenings, mini-trips, nap times, days off, whatever I can pack in.\ \ 8.What have been your top three 2026 horror releases? Movies?\ \ I don’t know that I’ve read any 2026 releases so far this year. I’m a backlist reader for sure. My most recent favorites are all at least from last year: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones, and Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker. Movies are the same way. Recent favorites were Sinners and Weapons.\ \ 9. What are a few of your favorite backlist horror books?\ \ Kind of working my way back from when I read them: Nestlings by Nat Cassidy, We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer, Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman, the whole Cal Hooper trilogy by Tana French, The Reformatory by Tananarive Due, Mister Magic by Kiersten White, and then I get so far back everyone probably knows them all. (At this phase in my life, the only time I’m on top of a trend is if I’m lucky enough to set one.)\ \ 10. Any upcoming horror books you're excited about? Movies?\ \ I love Paul Tremblay and hate A.I., so I’m really looking forward to Dead but Dreaming of Electric Sheep, and Rachel Harrison’s Kiss Slay Replay sounds super fun. I’m even further behind the curve on movies than I am on books, so I usually wait until something is so good that my close friends literally force me to watch it. (It’s not cool, but it’s a pretty effective screening process.) I’m cautiously optimistic about two of my favorite scary books being adapted for film: Josh Malerman's Incidents Around the House and Paul Tremblay's A Head Full of Ghosts. I have that book-lover’s fear of a movie not doing my mind’s vision of a beloved book justice.\ \ Use the space below to add in anything else you'd like to say! \ \ I have a couple of really big pieces of news coming any day now, so be sure to follow me online @AnnieNeugebauer and subscribe to my blog newsletter here https://annieneugebauer.com/subscribe/ to get the good stuff. :)\ \ Special thanks again to Annie Neugebauer for the opportunity to interview her! All books mentioned here can be found below. If you have not read any of Annie's works, be sure to pick up The Extra (out now) and pre-order The Other (June).\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/Gk3QQWupgqWgsqwYTC7E/)

Author Interview: Annie Neugebauer

15 books

Two Stories Bookshop\ \ Queer-Owned Shelves🌈\ \ • Apr 9

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Poll:\ \ Recommendation Videos? \ \ Something I'd like to post more of on our bookstore social media accounts are recommendation videos for our favorite (insert trope or genre). Is that something you'd all like to see? \ \ For instance, a starter one would be "Ryn's Favorite Indigenous Horror" and it would be (let's be real) books like Indian Burial Ground by Nick Medina and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones with White Horse by Erika T. Wurth thrown in as well! \ \ Help out by filling out the poll on this post!

Crowd Input!

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Skies Press\ \ Emma\ \ • Mar 10

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WINNERS of our 2025 Best of Books

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Peppered Ink\ \ Mary\ \ • Jan 11

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My Academic Journey

The course of... well... coursework never did run smooth.

18 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jan 7

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💭 what was your favorite horror read from last year?

if you’re wondering if it was hard to narrow these down, i initially tried to do a top 3. and then a top 5. and failed both times, so now we’re at a top 6 and even then i wanted to include more! it’s been a great few years for horror books.

📚 books mentioned: - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - The Reformatory by Tananarive Due - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - The Children by Melissa Albert - Mexican Gothic bu Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Model Home by Rivers Solomon

👗💄: - eyeshadow is The Crawl Face & Eye Multi-Palette from Covergirl and The Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Palette from Glamlite - shimmer is Lucid Dream from Ourbella - lip combo is Lip Lingerie Liner Stain (Up To No Good) from NYX Cosmetics and 3D Volumizing Lip Gloss (Cherry Cola) from Fwee - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you to Saga Press and William Morrow for the gifted copies!

#horrorbooks #horrorbookrecs #besthorrorbooks #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @sagapressbooks @williammorrowbooks @delreybooks @mcdbooks @covergirl @glamlite @ourbella.us @nyxcosmetics @fwee_makeup

horror book recommendations • best horror books of 2025 • favorite horror books • mystery and thriller books • horror book recs • diverse books • diverse horror reads • Saga Press • William Morrow • Del Rey • MCD

6 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jan 4

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top 10 books of 2025 | my favorite reads from the year

it’s time …. let me tell you all about my favorite books from 2025!

10 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Jan 1

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💭 what were your favorite reads from 2025?

TOP 10 BOOKS OF 2025!! the first of my wrap up posts has ARRIVED! be on the lookout for a long form video where I go into each of these reads in depth, plus some favorites broken out into genres.

📚 books mentioned: - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez - The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko - One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad - Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Model Home by Rivers Solomon - Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi - The Children by Melissa Albert

👗💄: - dress is from Aqua (thrifted) - eyeshadow is: In A Trance Palette from Colourpop, The Lord of the Rings Middle-Earth Palette from Glamlite, and You Make Me Happy Palette from KimChi Chic Beauty - eyeliner is Epiphany Glow Melt-On Eyeliner (Sea Sparkle) from Kaleidos - shimimers are duochrome singles from Ourbella - lip combo is Lip Lingerie Liner Stain (Send Nudes) from NYX Cosmetics and Jelly Job High Shine Gloss (Honey, It’s Jelly) from NYX Cosmetics - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thanks to Saga Press, Tordotcom, Tor Books, Amulet Books, Knopf, Flatiron, MCD, Get Underlined, and William Morrow for the gifted copies!

#favoritebooks #readingwrapup #bestbooksof2025 #nycinfluencer #bookstagram @sagapressbooks @tordotcompub @torbooks @abramsbooks @abramskids @aaknopf @flatiron_books @mcdbooks @getunderlined @williammorrowbooks @colourpopcosmetics @glamlite @kimchichicbeauty @kaleidosmakeup @ourbella.us @nyxcosmetics

top 10 books of 2025 • favorite yearly reads • annual reading wrap up • favorite books of the year • best books of 2025 • best reads of the year • fantasy books • science fiction books • horror books • nonfiction books • diverse books

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Infinite Realms Book Club \ \ Nozomi \ \ • Dec 8 2025

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Hi everyone happy Monday! I unfortunately did not have a very productive reading week this past week :( I have yet to start out fantasy book pick House of Salt and Sorrows since I am in the middle of the faithful of the fallen series at the moment. \ \ Fthebuffor our Horror book pick of the month The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, I unfortunately DNF'd this at 56% on audio. the audio book was not necessarily bad, I think the writing style is just not for me. I did like how all the POVs had different voice actors so it was easy to keep track that way, however, I was just not engaged with the story at all. I could not hold my focus no matter how hard I tried. the premise sounds very interesting and unique, however, I cannot tell you a single thing that happened in this book and I spent SEVERAL hours trying to understand. This book gets a lot of praise so I am definitely in the minority but the pacing and style of this book is just not for me! \ \ I would love to hear your guys thoughts in the comments on discord :) Happy reading everyone and I hope you have an amazing week! \ \ Join for free or login

Reading Update!

1 book

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Dec 8 2025

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💭 what’s your favorite 2025 book?

drum roll please … welcome to the THIRD annual StarrySteph Book Awards! no questions at this time!

📚 books mentioned: - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King - Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei - Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal by Mohammed El-Kurd - Detained: A Boy’s Journal of Survival and Resilience by D. Esperanza and Gerardo Iván Morales - Fate’s Bane by C.L. Clark - Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto - Magic in the Melanin by C.M. Lockhart - Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi - Love Be Damned by Briana Garrett - The Coven Tendency by Zoe Hana Mikuta

👗💄: - dress is from Free People, rented from Nuuly - eyeshadow is In Trance palette from Colourpop - lip combo is Lingerie Lip Liner Stain (Send Nudes) and Jelly Job Gloss (Honey, It’s Jelly) from NYX Cosmetics - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you to Saga Press, Tordotcom, William Morrow, Flatiron, Atria/Primero Sueño Press, Harper Voyager, Ingram, Get Underlined, and Disney Hyperion for the gifted copies!

#goodreadschoiceawards #starrystephbookawards #bestbooksof2025 #bestbooksoftheyear #2025books #fantasybooks #scifibooks #horrorbooks #bookrecs #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #TorPartner #WilliamMorrowPartner #atriapartner #FlatironPartner #HarperVoyagerPartner #GetUnderlinedPartner #ingram @sagapressbooks @tordotcompub @williammorrowbooks @flatiron_books @haymarketbooks @atriabooks @primerosuenopress @harpervoyagerus @writtennmelanin @ingramsparkbooks @getunderlined @disneybooks @freepeople @nuuly @colourpopcosmetics @nyxcosmetics

12 books

The Inky Phoenix\ \ Kathryn Budig\ \ • Nov 29 2025

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THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER Inky Phoenix Zoom Conversation\ \ Dec 3rd, 7pm ET: JOIN HERE\ \ \ \ Upgrade for $5 or login

THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER Inky Phoenix Zoom Conversation

Dec 3rd 7pm ET

1 book

Infinite Realms Book Club \ \ Nozomi \ \ • Nov 23 2025

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Poll:\ \ December voting \ \ Hi everyone! It is time to vote for which thriller and fantasy book we will be reading in December!There will be six books in total to choose from, 3 thriller and 3 fantasy. You are allowed to vote once in each category! Voting will end on the 27th. Make sure to join my discord where we can discuss the book picks!\ \ Join for free or login

December voting!

6 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Nov 14 2025

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\ \ It's time for another author interview! Last week we talked with author Julia Jackson about her debut novel Powder & Poison. If you haven't read that interview you definitely should! Along with my interview with Stephanie Rose.\ \ This week help me in welcoming author Kelly Dwyer! Kelly Dwyer is the author of Ghost Mother, a chilling psychological/ghost horror.\ \ \ \ The book follows Lilly Bly and her husband as they take on a fixer-upper of a house way out of their price range. After purchasing the house, Lilly discovers the house has a dark history. Strange occurrences begin happening. Lilly begins to wonder if they are real or if they are all in her head.\ \ 1. Use this first question as an introduction. Tell us a little about yourself and your book.\ \

My name is Kelly Dwyer, and I am the author of GHOST MOTHER, a psychological ghost story. I'm a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, and I currently divide my time between Los Angeles, where I grew up, and Wisconsin. I am married with a young adult daughter and a really cute pug named Roman.\ \ 2. You released Ghost Mother a year ago. It was such a powerful read. What inspired you to write it?\ \ Thank you so much, Ash. :) The day my husband and I were about to close on our first house, we found out there had been a murder in it. This was in Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the Ringling Brothers were from. Their first cousins were the Gollmar Brothers, who also owned a circus. Our house (a modest Craftsman, not a run-down mansion) had been built by one of the Gollmar Brothers, and when he died, his widow lived there by herself, and used to feed transients during the Depression. One night, during a robbery gone wrong, one of these men murdered her. My husband and I had a decision to make--knowing this, should we still buy the house? We decided that since it happened so long ago (in the 1930s), and since the woman who had lived in the house seemed really nice, we would go ahead, and indeed, we never felt any sort of haunting in the eight years we lived there. But it made me think--What if there had been the kind of tragic murder there that would make someone not want to buy a house? What if someone who bought the house did feel a haunting? What kind of person would that be? It was when I reread Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw" and I started imagining the ambiguity of--is the house haunted or is the protagonist losing touch with reality?--that the novel really came together for me.\ \ 3. I absolutely love the "couple moves to a new house that needs repairs in hopes it'll save their marriage' trope that is featured in Ghost Mother. What are some of your favorite horror tropes? Any favorite books that feature these tropes?\ \ Yes, it's so fun to write--and read--books that dig into tropes or put a new spin on them! When I was writing GHOST MOTHER, I read a lot of haunted house books; I think my favorites, besides James', are The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, Rebecca by Daphne du Maruier, and The Shining by Stephen King. (See The Most Classic Haunted House books by Kelly Dwyer for an article I wrote on the subject.) I was also inspired by films like "Rosemary's Baby" and the TV show "The Haunting of Hill House." I think the thing that interested me the most about that trope was the question, "What is haunting you?" Two people--as you say, in this case, a couple--could move into a house, and one person will feel haunted, while the other doesn't sense anything. Is that because one person is more open to the supernatural? Is that because ghosts seek certain people out? Or is it because someone is so haunted by their past--their losses, their traumas--that they are prone to sense a haunting where maybe there isn't one? I don't know, but I love the question, and as a writer, I love the ambiguity involved\ \ 4. What was the most difficult part of writing Ghost Mother?\ \ The most difficult part of writing GHOST MOTHER was getting the backstory of the 1950s tragedy in the house right. It had to be compelling. I knew I wanted a nod to the circus, which had been a part of our former house's history. But it also had to be thematically resonant. I wrote three completely different backstories before my agent said, "Yep, this is it." Now, looking back, it seems so obvious, but wow, it took me a while!\ \ 5. Were there any scenes or characters that were harder to write than others? Any that were easier?\ \ Getting Jack and Lilly's relationship to feel real and be complicated was a challenge for me. Bobby Shawcross was the easiest character to write! I don't know where he came from, but everything about him--his speech, his voice, his appearance--just landed in my head fully formed.\ \ 6. Were there any scenes that you had to edit out of Ghost Mother that you wish you had left in?\ \ I love this question, because the short answer is, No! I sold GHOST MOTHER at a 100 pages longer than it is now. My editor asked me to make it tighter. She didn't tell me what to cut, or suggest a word count, but I knew I wanted it to be shorter than 350 pages. (I think it came in at 336 by the end.) To cut those hundred pages, I cut any repetitious scenes, started the story moving quicker, and cut out any unnecessary backstory. At the time, I thought maybe those scenes from the past were important so that the reader could understand and sympathize with Lilly, but after I cut them, I realized that I need to write them to understand and sympathize with Lilly, but the reader didn't need to read them. My new mantra is, When in doubt, cut!\ \ 7. Do you have any other projects in the works?\ \ Yes indeed! I am working on a new novel inspired by fairy tales, Hollywood, and a mansion with a bg, dark secret. It's a lot of fun!\ \ 8. 2025 has been a great year for horror. What have been your top three reads that you've read so far?\ \ Oh, boy. So many--and I'm so behind! I'm reading The Buffalo Hunter now, and it's taking me a while, because I read and reread Stephen Graham Jones' sentences again and again. He's amazing. I also really enjoyed and admired Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix, Hungerstone by Kat Dunn, The Lamb by Lucy Rose, and--one that was written a few years ago, in 1872, but I just read for the first time-- Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu. Give me a gothic lesbian vampire story set in an isolated castle and I'm in!\ \ 9. Do you have any special routines that help you get ready to write?\ \ I like to set candles, set an intention. Like Proust and Edith Wharton, I write in bed.\ \ 10. If Ghost Mother was ever adapted into a film, do you have a dream cast?\ \ GHOST MOTHER is in pre-pre-pre-pre... production, meaning, my film agent introduced me to a director I really like, and she's interested in writing the screenplay and making the film. I would love to see this novel on the screen, and I feel like there are so many women actors about Lilly's age (37 or thereabouts) who would be amazing in the role: Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman (think of her in The Black Swan), Anna Taylor-Joy... maybe Florence Pugh wouldn't be too young by the time it was cast. :) I always pictured Jack as looking like Theo James. Anybody free?\ \ 11. Bonus question from Kelly: I'd like to ask you and your readers a question now, if you don't mind. Do you like horror books about horror movies? If so, what do you like about them? If not, what do you dislike? Do you have any favorites/ any recommendations? \ \ Thanks for the question, Kelly! I am a huge fan of Hollywood horror! There are several books I just love such as Night Film, Curse of The Reaper, Burn The Negative, Silver Nitrate, and more. I'll drop a few links to posts on my instagram where I showcase some more horror set on movie screens/ hollywood.\ \ Film/Hollywood Horror\ \ Hollywood Horror\ \ Special thanks again to Kelly for taking the time to talk with me! Be sure to pick up a copy of Ghost Mother if you haven't already read it. It was one of my favorites last year!\ \ You can follow Kelly on Instagram or on her website.\ \ Join for free or login](https://ashreadshorror.binderybooks.com/item/7nf3tTvIGO7Y4eK8lvTb/)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: KELLY DWYER

14 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 11 2025

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11/11 is 👹STEPH DAY 👹!!

📚 books mentioned: - The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar - Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker - Somadina by Akwaeke Emezi - Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei - The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - The Maid and the Crocodile by Jordan Ifueko - Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - The Coven Tendency by Zoe Hana Mikuta - Model Home by Rivers Solomon - Enter Ghost by Isabella Hammad - The Reformatory by Tananarive Due - These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa

👗💄: - dress is from Chelsea Reece - eyeshadow is Mírame Eyeshadow Palette from Aora - duochrome eyeshadow is from Ourbella - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you to Tordotcom, MIRA Books/HTP Hive, Get Underlined, Flatiron, Tor Books, Saga Press, and Disney Hyperion for the gifted copies!

#fantasybooks #horrorbooks #scifibooks #bookrecs #birthdaybooks #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #FlatironPartner #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #TorPartner #FlatironPartner #GetUnderlinedPartner #HTPHivePartner @tordotcompub @readmirabooks @htp_hive @getunderlined @flatiron_books @torbooks @sagapressbooks @abramsbooks @aaknopf @disneybooks @mcdbooks @groveatlantic @bychelseareece @aoramakeup @ourbella_cosmetics

14 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Nov 10 2025

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which one convinced you the most? 🙌

which one convinced you the most? 🙌 part twenty-two of one star goodreads reviews of books i enjoyed!

📚 books mentioned: - Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Model Home by Rivers Solomon - Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant - The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei - You Weren’t Meant to Be Human by Andrew Joseph White - The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King - I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea - Fire and Ice by Erin Hunter

thank you to Vintage, Saga Press, Grove Press, Flatiron, and William Morrow for the gifted copies!

#onestarreviews #negativebookreview #bookreviews #goodreadsreviews #booktokhumor #nycinfluencer #nycbooktok #starrysteph #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #grovereader #FlatironPartner @ireadvintage @sagapressbooks @mcdbooks @groveatlantic @orbitbooks_us @flatiron_books @williammorrowbooks @fiercereads @harpercollins

10 books

Kurryreads\ \ Kerry\ \ • Nov 1 2025

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Indigenous Heritage Month - Thriller, Mystery, & Horror Book Recommendations

Native American Heritage Month - Thriller, Mystery, and Horror books by Indigenous Authors to diversify your bookshelves 📚📖 #nativeamericanheritagemonth #indigenousbooks #readindigenous #booktok #bookrecommendations

21 books

ash.reads.horror\ \ ash\ \ • Oct 29 2025

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Vampire Books

🧛‍♀️ These books SUCK in the best way 🧛‍♀️

Need some vampire horror in your life? Here are some books guaranteed to lure you in. This is not a master list by any means!

See any of your favorites on here?

11 books

Mareas\ \ Marines\ \ • Oct 27 2025

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my tbr is out of control

12 books off and 8 books on 😅

8 books

Celestial\ \ Steph\ \ • Oct 27 2025

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vampire book recs!

WE’RE IN VAMPIRE SEASON, BABY!🩸you’d better watch out for fangs.

📚 books mentioned: - Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia - The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones - Vampires of El Norte by Isabel Cañas - The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-ran, translated by Gene Png

👗💄: - dress is from Anna Sui, rented from Nuuly - eyeshadow is In A Trance palette from Colourpop - eyeliner is Sea Sparkle from Kaleidos - bright blue mascara is Electric Blue Tartlette Tubing from Tarte - lip combo is Mocktail Moment Liner and Happy Hour Grip Stick from Tilt Beauty - (also if you have a question about my makeup or something i’m wearing, most of it is curated in my shopmy!)

thank you to Saga Press, Berkley Books, and Bloomsbury Publishing for the gifted books!

#vampirebooks #vampirebookrecs #horrorbooks #horrorbookrecs #starrysteph #nycinfluencer #diversebookstagram #nycbookstagram #bookstagram #BloomsburyCreatorCircle #SagaSaysCrew #sagapressbooks #SagaSays #BerkleyPartner @tornightfire @sagapressbooks @torbooks @berkleypub @bloomsburypublishing @annasui @nuuly @colourpopcosmetics @kaleidosmakeup @tartecosmetics @tiltbeauty

4 books