They say horror is about monsters. Ghosts, vampires, things with too many teeth. They are wrong, of course. The best horror, the kind that sticks to your ribs and follows you into a dark room, is about the monsters we already know. Grief. Guilt. Obsession. The terrifying architecture of a broken heart. This year, two novels from Titan Books tear into these human darknesses with breathtaking precision, each using the supernatural not as a cheap escape, but as the sharpest possible mirror.
Think about it, really think. What is more frightening than the past refusing to stay buried? Or the love you crave becomes the very thing that devours you? This is where true fear lives.
The Haunt We Carry: A Descent into Dark Academia
Laura R. Samotin knows about buried things. Following her acclaimed debut, The Sins on Their Bones, she returns with The Way It Haunted Him, a terrifying and claustrophobic queer dark academia horror set in a demon-infested archive. This isn’t your typical ghost story. It’s a story about trauma, grief and the lengths we will go to for love.
Meet Michael Stein. He arrives at the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies already haunted. Battered and broken, he blames himself for the tragic accident that took his boyfriend’s life. His penance? To complete his boyfriend’s research into demonic entities drawn from Jewish myth and Eastern European folklore. It’s a sceptic’s attempt to touch the superstitions his beloved believed in. But the archive has other plans.
Instead of the old archivist, he finds Jacob Schechter. Enigmatic. Brooding. A believer. As Michael delves into cryptic texts, the shadows on the page begin to seep into the hallways. His scholarly grief warps. It becomes something darker, an intoxicating obsession with Jacob, a man whose own secrets are a chasm waiting to swallow them both. The real haunting here isn’t just the household demons lurking in the stacks. It’s the past, it’s guilt, it’s the terrifying possibility of a new love built on a grave.
Samotin, with a PhD in international relations, uses her academic rigour to build a world where psychological horror and supernatural horror are indistinguishable. The result is a heady, atmospheric chokehold of a novel. Readers of T. Kingfisher and Tori Bovalino, take note. This is your next obsession.
Praise for The Way It Haunted Him
Set in an imaginative, lived-in world steeped in Jewish mysticism, The Sins on Their Bones walks a tightrope between darkness and light, between heavy themes and levity, between escaping the monsters from your past and becoming one in the present. Get ready to fall in love with Samotin’s characters-even the villain! Especially the villain.
–Genoveva Dimova, author of Foul Days
A heart-wrenching tale of love, loss and the long, difficult road to healing, The Sins on Their Bones is an unmissable debut from a powerful new voice.
–K.M. Enright, author of Mistress of Lies
Wrenching, brutal, and fiercely loving, The Sins on Their Bones is a remarkable and unflinching fantasy debut.
–Emily Skrutskie, author of Bonds of Brass
Clever and inventive, Laura R. Samotin’s debut novel filled me with giddy nostalgia for the heady days when a younger me first discovered fantasy adventures, deliriously unhinging my jaw to devour entire books whole in a single night. Which is exactly what I did with The Sins On Their Bones: it was simply too much fun to put down! It’s left me desperately craving both blinis, and the second book in the series.
-Rose Sutherland, author of A Sweet Sting of Salt
Rich in wrenching intimacies, The Sins on Their Bones is a paean to healing and endurance against all odds.
–Foz Meadows, author of A Strange and Stubborn Endurance
The Sins on Their Bones is absolutely unique and potently atmospheric. The darkness nearly wafts off the page.
–Ariel Kaplan, author of The Pomegranate Gate
Immersive and original, The Sins on Their Bones is the Jewish fantasy I’ve always dreamed of reading. Samotin has created a world that is rich and evocative and absolutely steeped in Jewish folklore, and a cast of wounded, messy, enchanting characters that grab you by the heart and never let go. Every page took my breath away, and the ending left me absolutely clamoring for more. This tender, violent, breathtaking debut will keep you on your toes until the very last word.
–Shelly Jay Shore, author of Rules for Ghosting
About Laura R. Samotin
Laura R. Samotin has a PhD in international relations and enjoys using her academic background on military tactics, power politics, and leadership to enliven and inform her creative writing. Her adult fiction is grounded in Jewish myth, mysticism, and her Eastern European Jewish heritage.
She served as a 2021 #DVMentor mentor and a 2021-2022 WriteMentor Summer Program mentor, and also runs the website Query101 to help authors on their writing journey. She lives with her spouse, and when she’s not researching or writing, she relishes her role as a full-time cat servant.
A Savage, Hypnotic Danse Macabre
Now, let’s cross a continent and step back a century. From a claustrophobic archive to the gaslit grandeur of 1869 Paris. Here, horror wears a more elegant mask, but its teeth are just as sharp. Sara Hinkly’s is a savage, hypnotic dive into the lives and deaths of a coven of vampires living as a theatre troupe.
The Théâtre Saint-Siméon is the city’s worst-kept secret. Entry is by a rare black slip, and the actors are magnetic, ageless, performing only at midnight. They are, of course, vampires. Led by Arnault, they survive by a rigid set of rules, picking off just enough of their enraptured audience to sate themselves without causing alarm. It’s a precarious, beautiful existence. And it is about to shatter.
First comes Béatrice, a witch who forms a strange connection to Arnault. Then arrives Victor de Rouvray, a vampire from a different world entirely. As Arnault is drawn to the enigmatic Victor, his focus splinters. He neglects the theatre, his clan, and the chilling premonitions of blood and revolution that plague his dreams. Because beyond the velvet curtains, Paris itself is simmering. Revolt brews in the streets, a tide of mortal violence that even immortals cannot control.
Hinkly’s perspective here is everything. She isn’t just a writer; she’s a costume designer for TV, film, and theatre. She knows the smell of the greasepaint, the weight of a costume, the delicate, toxic ecosystem of a repertory company. This career gives her an unparalleled insight into her vampire troupe. Their performances are not just a cover; they are an extension of their eternal nature, a literal theatre of blood. Her prose doesn’t just describe a setting, it drapes you in it. Fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Laura Purcell will find a rich, bloody feast here.
Praise for Sara Hinkly
Daniel Carpenter (Senior Editor, Titan Books): Called it “the kind of debut every editor dreams of,” praising it as ambitious, beautifully written, and heartbreaking. He noted Hinkley’s mastery of the 19th-century Parisian setting, stating she captures the period so well “you’d swear she lived and breathed the same… air”.
Isabel Kaufman (Literary Agent, Fox Literary): Described Hinkley’s work as an “incredible spectacle” that effortlessly brings to life a “sensuous, grotesque past” where “all-too-human monsters walk the streets”.
About Sara Hinkly
Sara Hinkley is a costume designer for television and film with a background in theatre, dance, and opera. She’s a proud union member of United Scenic Artists 829 IATSE and this is her first novel.
Two Sides of the Same Dark Coin
So here we have them. Two novels. Two approaches to the primordial shadows of the horror genre.
The Way It Haunted Him is a psychological horror that uses the supernatural to externalise a shattered mind. Its monsters are grief and obsession, given form through the potent lens of Jewish folklore. It’s internal, a haunting of the soul.
The Red Sacrament is supernatural horror of the highest order, using immortal creatures to explore timeless themes of addiction, community, and the fear of the mob. It’s external, a haunting of society.
Yet they converse with each other. Both are about families, chosen or cursed. and the secrets that bind them. Both ask what we sacrifice for love, for art, for survival. Both understand that the most gripping tales are not about the monster under the bed, but the monster we invite into it.
If you’re excited for the upcoming Titan Books novels The Red Sacrament and The Way it Haunted Him, you might be wondering what to read while you count down to June. Good news, the genre’s been brewing some excellent poison.
To match the dramatic, queer Gothic atmosphere of Sara Hinkly’s The Red Sacrament, look no further than Andrea Morstabilini’s A Blood as Bright as the Moon. It’s another queer Gothic horror novel from Titan, centred on a vampire named Ambrose who is torn between his clan’s bizarre plan for salvation and his secret contact with a human who believes he can be saved. Like Hinkly’s Parisian theatre, this story builds a rich, crumbling world of immortal outsiders and external threats, perfect for readers who crave vampires that are less glittery and more a vehicle for exploring desire, loyalty, and survival.
For fans of Laura R. Samotin’s The Way it Haunted Him and its claustrophobic academic dread, Titan has a perfect primer. The Dark Academia Library is a box set that includes Victoria Lee’s A Lesson in Vengeance, a quintessential novel in the genre about a girl returning to a prestigious boarding school haunted by her girlfriend’s death. It directly explores the themes of grief, obsession, and the dark side of academic pursuit that are central to Samotin’s work. It also features sapphic dynamics and a plot revolving around a circle of girls dabbling in witchcraft, making it an excellent thematic companion.
Or how about the brillaint T. Kingfisher? While her books often lean into dark fantasy and folklore, her knack for unsettling characters and atmospheric terror makes her work a great next step for readers drawn to the psychological and supernatural blend of your two featured books. You might enjoy A House with Good Bones for its Southern Gothic family horror or What Moves the Dead for its fresh, fungal take on a classic Gothic tale.
I hope these suggestions lead you to your next perfect, unsettling read. If you have a preference for a particular element, like stories more focused on the theatre world or academic cults, let me know, and I can tailor the suggestions further.
Mark Your Calendar and Pre-Order the Darkness
The wait is almost over, but the dread is already here.
The Way It Haunted Him by Laura R. Samotin materialises on June 9, 2026.
The Red Sacrament by Sara Hinkly takes its first bow on July 7, 2026.
A semester in a haunted archive. A season ticket to a vampiric theatre. They promise to remind you why you love to be afraid, and more importantly, why that fear has everything to do with being human. Pre-order them. Let them haunt you.
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