2026 Halloween Book Festival Names Collection of Feminist Horror Stories For Top Honors
LOS ANGELES_ A collection of feminist short stories featuring horror, dysfunctional romance and familial relationships is the top book of the 2026 Halloween Book Festival, which honors the best and scariest of the fall.
Author Suzanne Mattaboni’s Gore, Lust & Kin (Madville Publishing) is a 24-story collection featuring agonized women and a few men on the cusp of finding themselves – or destroying themselves.
There’s the murderous Charlene, who goes to explosive lengths to drum-up business for her family’s funeral home. And struggling researcher Jackie, forced to make a heartbreaking decision between her relationship and her own body. Or Aphrodite, a reanimated Goddess on a bloody rampage. And dramatic pixie dream girl Marena, who finally gets to tell a story from the pixie’s POV.
The imaginative stories are the perfect mix of clever and horrible notions, and are well worthy of top honors in the competition.
Other winners:
BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY:
WINNER: The Legacy of the Twins Platoon — Christy Sauro Jr.
RUNNER-UP:
- My Life in Business Suits, Hospital Gowns and High Heels — Tom LeNoble
CHILDREN’S BOOKS:
WINNER: Sammy and Bubba Catch a Ghost – Brian Crosamun
RUNNERS-UP:
- Secrets in the House — Amie Massey Aya-ay
- Blue Bubble Gum — Martha Goldner
- Spooky Ooky Dance Party — Lisa Jacovsky
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- Trick or Treat: A Cool Kids Halloween — Marissa Koons
- Bryson the Beast — Lena Bee
- See Soul — Ken Breniman
FANTASY:
WINNER: Bagalor The Red Warlock – Bernice Small
RUNNER-UP:
- The Boy Who Earned His Magic — Lynn Elliott
HONORABLE MENTION:
- Cooking Up Magick – HL Bernabe
GENERAL FICTION:
WINNER: Straw Shoes – Mathias B. Freese
RUNNERS-UP:
- Palimony — Steven Grossman
- Agent of Horror — C.J. Lawson
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- What Lies Next Door — Shelly M. Patel
- Railroad Man Legacies Son — Dan E. Hendrickson
GENERAL NONFICTION:
WINNER: You Smell Better Than Soap — Anne Hopper Bevilacqua
HORROR:
WINNER: Gore, Lust & Kin — Suzanne Mattaboni
RUNNER-UP:
- Something Evil Volume 1 – Miles Watson
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
- The Darkest Tide — Chuck Elgee
- Empire of Blood: A Sci-Fi Vampire Epic — Christopher Kilgore
MEMOIR:
WINNER: Kinker Circusing the Seventies — Dave Letterfly Knoderer
UNCONVENTIONAL ROMANCE:
WINNER: Midnight at Pemberley — Regina Jeffers
RUNNER-UP:
- Palimony — Steven Grossman
- Heir To The Pridelands — M. S. West
WILD CARD:
WINNER: Catechisms – James W. Bennetts
RUNNER-UP:
- Tales of the Cemetery Trees II — John R. Cobb
HONORABLE MENTION:
- The Homestead Cafe: Cookbook and Iconic Tales — Jory Rosen and Marcia Rosen
YOUNG ADULT:
WINNER: Grandma Garcia and the Dead Man’s Rodeo – H.H. Madsen