Witchcraft for Wayward Girls tops the February chart
January’s horror fiction releases featured a wide array of stories, but the new Grady Hendrix novel Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is the clear #1 on Malevolent Dark’s Horror Fiction Top 25 February 2025 Chart. An emotionally resonant tale with memorable characters, Witchcraft is set in 1970 Florida at a home where unwed mothers have their babies in secret to give them up for adoption. However, when one of the girls meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, the girls have the power for the first time in their lives. Of course, with power comes a price … usually paid in blood.
At #2 on February’s chart is Book 2 in the Anathema series titled Anathema: Legacy by Nick Roberts. A follow-up to the 2022 novel Anathema, the series explores the effects of trauma and facing the demons of the past.
At #3 is Pink Neon by Megan Stockton, a violent novel propelled by a sex worker’s unexpected bond with a female client who claims to be a serial killer.
Residing at #4 is Judith Sonnet’s demonic ghost story The Home.
Rounding out the Top 5 is Spores by Michael McBride. It’s a sci-fi horror novel about a team of specialists sent to investigate the cause of an earthquake below Denver only to discover a deadly biological organism created by military scientists.
Anthologies and Collections
Let’s check out the rest of the Top 25.
A trio of outstanding anthologies and collections made the chart. Landing at #8 is Midnight Vintage by Sean Eads and Joshua Viola. It’s a collection of 20 haunting stories exploring the darker sides of the human soul. The collection features a foreword by four-time Bram Stoker Award-winning author Stephen Graham Jones. Even Slash of Guns N’ Roses plugs the book.
At #14 is another anthology from KJK Publishing titled The Horror Collection: Morte Edition. The 21st book in the series, this edition features stories by Harrison Phillips, Brian Moreland, Jason Nickey, Veronica Smith, Christina Bergling, Steve Stred, D.W. Hitz, Nick Roberts and Ju Collins, Lucretia Stanhope, Elizabeth J. Brown, Devin Cabrera, Leigh Kenny, MJ Mars, Shaun Hutson, Callum Pearce, JP Behrens, Dexter McLeod, Matthew A. Clark, and James Kaine.
At #16 is My Evil Fucking Neighbor, a chilling anthology of 13 tales about the darkness that lurks next door. With a foreword by Woom author Duncan Ralston, this anthology features a stellar lineup of contributors, including Jay Bower, MJ Mars, Steven Pajak, Candace Nola, Rebecca Rowland, Gage Greenwood, Mike Salt, Nick Roberts, Jeremy Megargee, R.E. Sargent, Nikki Noir, John Durgin, Megan Stockton, and Brian Asman.
Other Highlights
Some other highlights from the Top 25 … Clay McLeod Chapman’s social horror novel Wake Up and Open Your Eyes is #6 and is about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media.
Eric LaRocca’s latest At Dark, I Become Loathsome is #7. The author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke writes a book described as “a grim yet gentle, horrifying yet hopeful, intense tale of death, trauma, and love.”
Bram Stoker Award-winning author Jeff Strand’s vampire tale Bloodsucker County is #11 and takes us into a dystopian world where fanged and feral creatures that don’t play by the vampire rules far outnumber humans.
Speaking of vampires, Jonathan Miller’s Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror is #19 and is a reimagining of the classic 1922 silent film.
Extreme horror author Matt Shaw and his latest The Landlord land at #15. It’s about a couple that cons landlords, but their latest landlord to scam has darker desires.
Looking for a short read? A couple of novelettes under 40 pages made the cut for February. At #20 is Brian Bowyer’s twisted tale Black Cat Bones about a young girl and her mother who escape abuse to a remote cabin only to battle addiction and starvation. Rat by MJ Mars is #25 on the chart and is a gruesome short story about a crew that encounters a cursed ghost ship. By the way, I love the cover art for Rat by Ruth Anna Evans. Simple but brilliant.
Finally, I’ll mention my favorite book title on the chart at #23 — Horrors of The Shopping Mall Ass Slasher. Written by R.J. Benetti, it’s the first book in the Never Made Movies series, which is “a series of over-the-top, action-packed, drama-filled, humor-laden books that should be made into movies.” The Amazon description alone is hilarious: “In the summer of 1987, StarBright Shopping Mall is the place to be — until a masked killer with a bizarre fixation on butts turns it into a slaughtering ground. As the booty count rises, panic spreads faster than parachute pants on an ironing board.” I spent my entire teenage years in the 1980s, so this book scratches me exactly where I itch.
That wraps up my thoughts on this month’s chart. Without further ado, here’s the Top 25. Clicking on the book titles takes you to their Amazon pages where they can be purchased.