My Most Anticipated Sapphic Horror Books of 2026

My Darling Dreadful Thing was one of my favorite reads last year and solidified “Sapphic Gothic” as my new go-to microgenre. I have to read Van Veen’s Blood on the Tongue next, but I’m also looking forward to this horror/fantasy story. This work follows a nun and a farmer who are running away from invading soldiers. Together they find a relic: the golden skull of a saint. If they can reunite it with its body, they can make their wish come true. But someone else is looking for the relic and will stop at nothing to take it from them. There’s necromancy, folk horror, and a sapphic love story. There’s no way I wouldn’t put this on my most anticipated list.

Sapphic Gothic novels have their golden moments, and I’m here for them. I can’t resist the combination of sapphic longing and a creeping sense of doom. Brierley School for Girls in 1928 is infested with something sinister that rots meat and curdles milk. After that, the number of corpses begins to increase. Emily is convinced that the death of her charming classmate, Violet, was not natural, and she sets out to prove it. She teams up with her rival Evelyn to try to contact Violet from beyond the veil. Violet warns Evelyn that the danger is just beginning. It promises “teenage oppression, bizarre desires, and the everyday horrors of adulthood.”

Rebecca Barrow wrote one of my favorite YA books, This Is What It Feels Like. Even though this is a modern novel, I would follow her in any genre. This is the story of Maris’s life falling apart. The mother is depressed, the father leaves the house, and the relationship with his girlfriend is practically non-existent. The only bright spot is her role as cheer captain. When a new girl threatens it, Malice begins to dream of an ancient, decaying deer monster. If Maris frees her, Doe can give her back her position as cheer captain. This premise is reminiscent of I Feed Her to the Beast and the Beast Is Me by Jamison Shea. This novel is a YA horror novel about a queer black ballerina who makes a Faustian bargain with rivers of blood to get ahead in ballet. I loved that story, so I’m looking forward to this one as well.