Booklist June 2025 Spotlight Issue is On Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

 Booklist has shifted their SF/F/H Spotlight from September to June and it is filled with so many goodies including things ABOUT me. It is also a focus on Audio. Ands there are interviews with the Carnegie Medal winners.

I have 2 starred reviews in the issue as well, but I will post those tomorrow. Today, I have the ToC of the issue with all of the excellent horror filled content. I have added commentary below where applicable. And stay tuned after the ToC for a review of my book.

Remember, spotlight issues are always a great way to catch up on the best books in that category over the past 12 months as well as using them to prepare lists and displays

On the Cover
From Two Truths and a Lie, by Cory O’Brien, which appears on the Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror Debuts, p.15. Cover art designed by Tyler Comrie. Used with permission by Pantheon Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

• Spotlight on SF/Fantasy & Horror

• Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror
• Includes two books I reviewed and would currently consider the top 2 horror books of 2025-- The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones and Angel Down by Daniel Kraus.
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy & Horror Debuts
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy and Horror Novels on Audio
• Top 10 SF/Fantasy Books for Youth
• Talking With Becky Siegel Spratford: It's ME!!! You can also listen to the full, unedited for print space version here.
• The Essentials: Fantasy Anti-Heroes
• Essentials: Magic in Nature
• Manga Essentials: Frequently Requested Horror
• Essentials: Middle-Grade Space Adventures
• Book Map: Enchanted Forests
• Essentials: Epic Fantasy Picture Books

Spotlight on Audiobooks

• Booklist Odyssey Interview, Young Adults: Abigail Marks for HarperAudio
• The Booklist Odyssey Interview, Youth: Andy T. Jones for Dreamscape

Features

• High-Demand Hot List
• High-Demand Hot List for Youth
• Carte Blanche: A Tribute to a True Original
• Read-alikes: The 2025 Printz Winners
• The Booklist Carnegie Interview: Kevin Fedarko
• The Booklist Carnegie Interview: Percival Everett
• Series Nonfiction Showcase
• Booklist Backlist: Indigenous Horror
• GREAT LIST!

And finally, here is the STARRED review of my book from the current issue of Booklist. Click here to read it on the site. Get your orders in ASAP.

Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature.

Ed. by Becky Siegel Spratford.
Sept. 2025. 272p. Saga, paper, $18  (9781668205099). 814.6. 
REVIEW. First published June 1, 2025 (Booklist).

“Horror isn’t just a genre, it’s a calling,” writes Sadie Hartmann in her introduction to this fine collection of essays that delves deep into the appeal of the macabre. Spratford, well-known in the library world as a horror expert, has gathered the most important voices in the genre today—Brian Keene, Stephen Graham Jones, Tananarive Due, and more—and invited them to respond to the simple titular prompt. The results are illuminating, moving, and inspiring. Many of the authors were scared kids or faced trauma (Cynthia Pelayo’s harrowing tale comes to mind) and found comfort in the monstrous. Gabino Iglesias reflects on his grandmother’s belief in ghosts and spirits. Alma Katsu, who worked for “a few three-lettered government agencies,” talks about what historical horror can teach us about the present. Nuzo Onoh describes how horror helped her escape the real-life terrors of the Biafran War. Rachel Harrison masterfully relates the terror of low-fat yogurt. Each essay is put into context with an introduction by Spratford, who, like a good librarian, also provides read-alikes for each author. A treasure trove for readers of horror, this collection will also serve as a useful readers’ advisory tool and may convince the horror-curious to give the genre a try.

— Susan Maguire