Spine-Chilling Gay YA Horror Books To Read by Flashlight
Beat the summer heat with these chilling gay YA horror books.
Today’s Our Queerest Shelves is brought to you by: Grove Atlantic
From the extraordinary minds of New York Times-bestseller Helen Macdonald and Sin Blaché, Prophet is a tantalizing fusion of noir, sci-fi and a slow burn queer romance—set in a universe one perilous step from our own.
Adam, an American Intelligence officer, and Rao, an ex-MI6 agent with the uncanny ability to discern the truth, embark on a surreal, action-packed quest to uncover why people's fondest memories are being weaponized against them.
A genre-bending tour de force, Prophet shows us the dangers of venerating the past at the expense of the future, why we need hope, and how we can all change the world for the better. Find out more about Grove Atlantic here!
I recently received an email from a reader requesting more M/M and gay book recs, including horror books. I’ve noticed a few different gay YA horror books out this year, so I thought I’d feature those! Always feel free to let me know if there’s a topic you’d like to see covered on Our Queerest Shelves.
This week, I want to highlight the charity LGBT Books to Prisoners. You can donate either monetarily or with books. They’re especially looking for gay, bi, and trans books. You can also purchase books off their Amazon wishlist.
Looking to keep up with new queer books? Check out Book Riot's New Release Index! Delighting velocireaders since 2017, it will keep you in the loop for all the new and noteworthy books. You can even sort by queer books! (Psst, I help curate the queer books added, so you know they’re good!) Subscribe today — you won't be able to read them all, but it's fun to try!
Spine-Chilling Gay YA Horror
The Pledge by Cale Dietrich
Sam survived the Lake Priest Massacre. His friends were hunted down by a masked killer, but he was willing to do anything to survive. Now he wants to leave it all in the past. He’s just started college and joined a fraternity to meet new people. He’s even started flirting with one of the brothers there. But then a copycat killer strikes at his frat, and it’s up to Sam to stop him.
The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass
Jake sees spirits. It’s unpleasant to watch someone live out their dying moments on a loop, but not much more unpleasant than Jake’s day-to-day as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. When another Black student, Allister, joins the school, Jakes hits it off with him. He even thinks they could have feelings for each other. Then things fall apart when a school shooter ghost tries to possess Jake, upending everything he thought he knew about the dead.
Your Lonely Nights Are Over by Adam Sass (Sept 12, 2023)
It’s always been best friends Dearie and Cole against the world, but when a killer starts targeting Queer Club, that becomes a lot more literal. The two of them constantly seem to be the school’s scapegoats, and now someone is trying to pin the murders on them. They’ll have to figure out who is really behind the killings and stop them before the only alibi they have is their own demise. This promises to be Scream meets Clueless!
Beholder by Ryan La Sala (Oct 3, 2023)
Arachnophobes beware! This book is packed full of spider scares. Athan charmed his way into an invite to an exclusive artsy penthouse soiree. When he was in the bathroom, though, he heard a scream. When he tried to investigate, a guy pushed him back in and told him to lock the door. After hours of hearing strange sounds, he emerges to find an elaborate sculpture in the room — made of corpses. Now he’s the prime suspect.
The Forest Demands Its Due by Kosoko Jackson (Oct 3, 2023)
At the prestigious Regent Academy, Douglas is just trying to keep his head down and survive as a gay Black student. But then a student is murdered — and is immediately forgotten by the entire school. Everyone, that is, except Douglas and Everett, the groundskeeper’s son. In the woods outside the school, Douglas finds that Regent Academy owes a debt to a terrifying creature lurking there…and it has come to collect.
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That's it for me! Until next time, you can find me at my sapphic book blog the Lesbrary and (sigh) Twitter. You can also hear me on All the Books or you can read my Book Riot posts.
Happy reading!
Danika