2025 Horror Highlights

And looking ahead.

I’ve taken the last month or so away from social media. Away from posting and interacting. I needed the time to reflect, recharge, and reset.

Now I’m back, refreshed, dedicating this newsletter to my horror highlights of 2025 and what I’ll be working towards in 2026.

Favourite book: The Troop

I didn’t read as many books as I would have liked in 2025, but of those I did, Nick Cutter’s The Troop takes top spot. It’s one I’ve been meaning to read for the longest time from an author I’ve been meaning to check out for ages. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.

It tells the story of a group of scouts that spend a weekend camping on an island in the Canadian wilderness. Only, as they settle in for the first night, they realize there’s something horrifying and hungry on the island with them.

The Troop is visceral, unsettling, with splashes of body horror that are straight up disgusting. Extra points because it managed to pull me out of a reading slump.

Favourite movie: Bring Her Back

What I didn’t read this year I made up for in movies because, my goodness, we got some good horror. Weapons, 28 Years Later, Bring Her Back, Sinners, and Death of a Unicorn (which I enjoyed way more than I thought I would) are all up there as personal favourites.

After a lot of thought, Bring Her Back takes top spot. Coming off the back of Talk to Me, a 2023 favourite, it follows a brother and sister put into foster care with a woman named Laura, but Laura isn’t the safe space they were promised and they soon discover she’s preparing a dark and unsettling ritual.

Opinions for this one seem divided but I loved it. Specifically, how it explored trauma and grief, and how the character of Laura was written. Her unpredictability was so unsettling and poignant it brought me back to the feeling of dread you encounter when meeting Misery’s Annie Wilkes.

Favourite video game: Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Last year was also a great year for gaming. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes top spot not just for how smooth and satisfying the moment-to-moment gameplay is, but because it created a Belle Époque-inspired world that’s rich, detailed, and textured with incredible characters and an amazing soundtrack that makes it all feel alive.

The story centres on Expedition 33, a group intent on doing what no other expedition has been able to do: Stop the Paintress from continuing her annual cycle of painting death. It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that felt so imaginative and emotional, and strongly recommend checking it out.

And a few personal highlights:

The Flowers at Flood House

2025 was the year I published my third book, The Flowers at Flood House. It’s a personal story, inspired by my grandmother’s fight with dementia, about memories, grief, and lots of flowers. Here’s the blurb:

Flood House was meant to be a fresh start. A quiet escape in Stillwater where Seth Dorsey could care for his mother, caught in dementia’s grip.

But when Seth wakes up to dried flowers he didn’t hang in his basement and starts noticing unsettling changes in and around the house, he’s forced to ask whether the unexplainable is real, or something more sinister is at work.

The Flowers at Flood House is a horror novella that offers a new twist on the haunted house. An unsettling tale that takes readers on a dark and supernatural descent into loss, grief, and coming face-to-face with the memories that haunt us.

I’ve loved seeing the reviews and reactions to this one and really appreciate anyone and everyone who’s checked it out. If you want to pick up a copy, click the button below.

Short stories

In 2025, I also started publishing short stories on Substack; something that allowed me to evolve and develop my writing outside of novels and novellas, and acted as an opportunity to force myself to share stories that are more raw, in real-time.

There’s a tendency for online stories to get shared, do the rounds, and then fall into the ether as ‘more content’. They’re more than that so, for that reason, I’d love you to check them out.

• Lightbulb 💡 – A short horror story about a haunted lamp.

• 483 🔒 – A short horror story about the things we keep locked up.

• A Gentle Rain 🌧️ – A short horror story about loss.

• Cold House 🏚️ – A short horror story about a lonely ghost.

• Blood Orange, Vanilla, and Musk 🍊 – A short horror story about scent.

• Chasing the Dead ☀️ – A drabble about nostalgia.

• Spirit Steak 🥩 – A short horror story about medium-rare meat.

• Beeswax 🕯️ – A short horror story about a candle that’s impossible to blow out.

• July Eats June 🍃 – A (very) short story about a ghost waiting for winter.

As always, there was some non-fiction too, with thoughts about heartfelt horror, killer twists, why The Beach is one of the best movies of all time, and more.

What’s next?

Exactly what I said in this newsletter. More stories, more books, and more words. I can’t tell you when, but know they’re coming. I also talked a bit in that newsletter about what those stories will focus on, and how I want them to expand the universe that’s been started in The Flowers at Flood House and Waxwing Creek.

Until then, thanks to you for reading, following, and sticking around in 2025. I’ve met some great people, had some incredible conversations, and enjoyed some amazing stories. This self-publishing thing is a true labour of love, and the support never goes unnoticed.

Thanks again, and happy new year!

Before you go

If you want to connect, I love hearing from readers. I keep an Instagram updated and post regularly to Threads and Notes. You can also find me on TikTok.

/ JJW