Gav Reads

A Web Log of Reading

Tag: horror

  • Sunday Summary: 19 Oct 25

    Sunday Summary mainly functions as my personal record of book-related topics that have captured my interest over the past week. It also acts as a public memory prompt and bookmarking system.

    Keeping Everything Tracked

    I sought Bluesky’s advice on tracking books, as I am feeling a mix of lost, confused, or overwhelmed due to all the options.

    Do you keep a list of books you want to read/buy? How long is that list? Could you make it ten or less and keep it that long on a constant basis?

    — @gavreads (@gavreads.co.uk) 2025-10-18T18:29:26.657Z

    The following discussion prompted me to compile a spreadsheet of all my pre-orders, clearly showing that I have enough pre-orders to keep me occupied until June.

    Tufty McTavish reminded me of the power of tags in the Story Graph and why it’s good to invest time in adding them.

    I’m also going to try more immediate (the next week or two) reading lists to see if that cuts through the ever-growing physical TBR.

    Newsy Things

    Introducing a new bona new quarterly literary magazine:

    FANTABULOSA!

    Bona Books Presents A new queer literary magazine FANTABULOSA! Tales of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical, from radical and unapologetic queer voices. Science fiction, fantasy and horror Short fiction & poetry Submissions open now

    Pushing the boundaries of bold, authentic, QUEER storytelling. Bringing you stories of the uncanny, the dangerous and the fantastical.

    & thanks to our brilliant #WrathMonth backers, we’re fully funded for 2026 🤘

    Having enjoyed I Want That Twink Obliterated! I can’t wait to see what this cackle of editors produce!

    Pre-Orders

    The UK’s largest book chain, Waterstones, had a pre-order sale on releases for 2026 this week. Did I fall into the trap and order some books? Yes. Did I also get a bit too invested in what is coming out in 2026? Also, yes.

    I placed orders for various new releases and paperback reprints.

    Thanks to the spreadsheet mentioned above I now know when to look out for post.

    And the offer wasn’t all the books coming out in 2026, but I now expect to stay busy with new releases from January to June.

    But the reason for mentioning it was that I had to sift through many books to decide on those I chose.

    Which is probably why I felt the urge to look at all the books coming out this week… there are a few.

    Out This Week in the UK – ish

    Based on information on blackwells.co.uk’s advanced search.

    1. Saltwash by Andrew Michael Hurley
    2. It’s Not a Cult by Joey Batey
    3. Spread Me. by Sarah Gailey
    4. Quantum of Menace – Q Mysteries by Vaseem Khan
    5. Firstborn of the Sun by Marvellous Michael Anson
    6. The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
    7. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
    8. The Witching Hour: Ghostly Tales for the Darkest Night ed. Undetermined
    9. The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong
    10. Secrets of the First School – Edinburgh Nights by T. L. Huchu
    11. Red City by Marie Lu
    12. Bog Queen by Anna North
    13. The Works of Vermin by Hiron Ennes
    14. Lives of Bitter Rain – The Tyrant Philosophers by Adrian Tchaikovsky
    15. Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor
    16. Fever Dreams: New Horror Short Stories ed. Mark Morris
    17. An Infinite Sadness by Antônio Xerxenesky (tr. Daniel Hahn)
    18. The Forsaken and the Fated – The Hollow and the Haunted by Camilla Raines
    19. Sea Now by Eva Meijer (tr. Anne Thompson Melo)
    20. The Witch and the Priest by Hilda Lewis
    21. Pomegranate Seed and Other Ghostly Tales by Edith Wharton
    22. Moths by Rosalind Ashe
    23. All the Fear of the Fair: Uncanny Tales of the Circus and Sideshow ed. Edward Parnell
    24. Grave Empire by Richard Swan (paperback release)
    25. The Feeding by A. J. Ryan
    26. Futility by Nuzo Onoh
    27. Dead & Breakfast (A Dead & Breakfast Mystery)by Kat Hillis & Rosiee Thor

    And from these, if I had to chose three that I’m most excited for, it would be:

    1. The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
    2. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
    3. Spread Me. by Sarah Gailey

    What would you pick up?

    Books That Others have Tempted Me With:

    Last/Now/Next

    • The last book I’ve read is: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
    • The book I’m currently reading is: The Devil’s by Joe Abercrombie
    • The next book I’m is: The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

    This week’s Wombling Along

    This week includes a TBR in it’s own right:

    • Love for Adrian Tchaikovsky
    • The sub-genre of the fantasy of manners
    • Weird fiction short story collections
    • Being impressed by
      • Inner Space by Jakub Szamalek tr. Kasia Pedforf
      • Terms of Service by Ciel Pierlot (which I hadn’t heard of until now)
    • Confirmation, I need to read The Everlasting by Alix E Harrow
    • I also need to read my copy of Cassandra Khaw’s The Library at Hellebore.
    • The power of Small Press via a Dispatch
    • Two reviews of Futility by Nuzo Onoh
    • And so much more…

    Outro

    Once again, that turned out to be a much longer post than I expected.

    Perhaps next week, I’ll return to my bookmarks.

    Until then — happy reading!