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You Have to Let Them Bleed
The collector hunts the darkness for terrible beauty: macabre and marvelous stories worth displaying in their shadow boxes. Tour these horrors with them, but beware: if you're not careful, you might find yourself lost in a labyrinth of fear.
A pickup artist is after your skin. A junk drawer opens into the abyss. The twin sons of an ill-fated magician plot against their abusive mother. A man wastes his life dreading an unseen entity. A senior water aerobics class takes a turn for the bizarre…
You Have to Let Them Bleed brings together the best horror fiction by two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist and nationally award-winning poet Annie Neugebauer. Together with eight new poems, this nineteen-story collection will draw you into the lovely darkness, lure you deeper into the heartbreaking and gruesome, and leave behind its own collection of horrors to fill the shadows of your mind.
A pickup artist is after your skin. A junk drawer opens into the abyss. The twin sons of an ill-fated magician plot against their abusive mother. A man wastes his life dreading an unseen entity. A senior water aerobics class takes a turn for the bizarre…
You Have to Let Them Bleed brings together the best horror fiction by two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist and nationally award-winning poet Annie Neugebauer. Together with eight new poems, this nineteen-story collection will draw you into the lovely darkness, lure you deeper into the heartbreaking and gruesome, and leave behind its own collection of horrors to fill the shadows of your mind.
282 pages, Paperback
Published March 17, 2026
About the author
Annie Neugebauer
62 books187 followersAnnie is a novelist, blogger, nationally award-winning poet, and two-time Bram Stoker Award-nominated short story author. She is the author of The Outsiders Sequence (The Extra, The Other, and The Spare) and You Have to Let Them Bleed. You can visit her at www.AnnieNeugebauer.com.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 17, 2026
Dark and heady, this is a compelling and reflective collection that highlights a number of different tones to contemporary high-concept horror. The stories seem to seek out a certain aesthetic sensibility, one that aims for dread and unease, with just brief glimpses of shock and occasional disgust to make sure you aren’t getting too comfortable. The writing is measured and deliberate, and the stories don’t feel like they’re particularly interested in being punchy. Instead, they are taut, aiming to get under your skin and make you see the poetry of darkness. The stories do have different themes and ideas, and don’t all play in the exact same subgenre sandbox, but they do share an ominous sensibility and a measured pacing that connect them.
Not all the stories were homeruns for me but the ones that did hit were great, they left me with my skin crawling and a morbid grin on my face, and none of them fell totally flat. The stories are grouped into different colors, with a poetic framing device linking the color-coded sections together. This helped set the atmosphere of the book for me, cohering the stories into a type of thematic whole. On their own the poetry was amusing, the short poems kept my attention, but none felt especially penetrative or emotional, they felt like scaffolding for something else, and in that capacity they were a welcome addition.
All of the stories are dark, but they are presented in such a way that the dark implications don’t always jump out until after you have sat with the stories. I appreciate their sensibility and the reading experience that comes from this contemplative, spacious/distant approach to horror. I personally would have liked some of the stories to have a little more pop to them, a little more zing, to fracture the reading experience a little, prevent everything from, well, bleeding into one another. The darkness and subject matter of the stories certainly warrant it on occasion, and some stories flirt with it, but none really get there. Just enough to keep the reader from getting too complacent and comfortable, which is a possibility when a collection has such a singular aesthetic vision across all of the stories and the framing device as well. That said, it is very intentional in what it is doing, and it does that well. These are horror stories to get stuck in your brain, where they will linger and fester, instead of stories that will cause you to shout in shock but then forget about once your brain chemicals balance out again.
(Rounded from 3.5)
Not all the stories were homeruns for me but the ones that did hit were great, they left me with my skin crawling and a morbid grin on my face, and none of them fell totally flat. The stories are grouped into different colors, with a poetic framing device linking the color-coded sections together. This helped set the atmosphere of the book for me, cohering the stories into a type of thematic whole. On their own the poetry was amusing, the short poems kept my attention, but none felt especially penetrative or emotional, they felt like scaffolding for something else, and in that capacity they were a welcome addition.
All of the stories are dark, but they are presented in such a way that the dark implications don’t always jump out until after you have sat with the stories. I appreciate their sensibility and the reading experience that comes from this contemplative, spacious/distant approach to horror. I personally would have liked some of the stories to have a little more pop to them, a little more zing, to fracture the reading experience a little, prevent everything from, well, bleeding into one another. The darkness and subject matter of the stories certainly warrant it on occasion, and some stories flirt with it, but none really get there. Just enough to keep the reader from getting too complacent and comfortable, which is a possibility when a collection has such a singular aesthetic vision across all of the stories and the framing device as well. That said, it is very intentional in what it is doing, and it does that well. These are horror stories to get stuck in your brain, where they will linger and fester, instead of stories that will cause you to shout in shock but then forget about once your brain chemicals balance out again.
(Rounded from 3.5)
January 9, 2026
Review in the January 2026 issue of Booklist and on the blog: https://raforall.blogspot.com/2026/01...
Three Words That Describe This Book: disorienting, making the mundane terrifying, range of gore and fear
Other general appeal: Though-Provoking, Weird, unsettling (especially with her endings which can be very open-- leaves room for readers to feel the story though and then think about it), psychological horror but not without gore, unmooring, very deliberate word choices-- in a way that is still making them easy to read, but you can feel and see the writing craft here, unique, original voice, nothing goes where you think it will.
Neugebauer is a name you might not think you know, but her stories have been seen across the horror
publishing landscape including multiple appearances in "best of" anthologies.
"The Pelt" is included and that is the story that introduced me to Neugebauer and I still love that story. But in my review I will write about others.
19 stories and 8 poems--
Poems serve as good interludes in between stories. Starts and ends with poems featuring "The Shadowlings" which helps to give the collection a larger structure. These stories are her shadowlings, that she collects and shares, but at the end, they are still calling to us.
Also the title of the collection sets the stage very well here.
There are stories here that directly draw off of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe which also show part of what she is doing here in this collection-- Neugebauer is clearly invoking some great works of horror literature but also grabbing them to make them her own. She is doing it explicitly in those 2 stories BUT I would argue that every story does it. You notice it more when they are collected together.
"Redless" about a woman who goes to great lengths to see the color red is short and taught and immersive and terrifying.
"Cilantro" and "The Little Drawer Full of Chaos" are both focused domestic dramas gone, not just horribly wrong, they are that, but also they go to weird, disquieting and terrifying places. Different places but same idea
"You Ought Not Smile as You Walk These Woods" is a dark fairy tale type story. Reminded my of Cass Khaw a lot.
I am not going to leave comment for each story here. If what I have said in general intrigues you, you should grab this collection.
Bad Hand Books is a solid small press and now with larger distribution, you can easily add all of their titles to your libraries.
Readalikes: This reminded me of the stories of Kelly Link, Cass Khaw, and Samanta Schweblin, as well as the collections Cursed Bunny by Chung and Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Lima. And The Grip of it (novel) by Jac Jemc
There are stories here that directly draw off of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allen Poe which also show part of what she is doing here
Three Words That Describe This Book: disorienting, making the mundane terrifying, range of gore and fear
Other general appeal: Though-Provoking, Weird, unsettling (especially with her endings which can be very open-- leaves room for readers to feel the story though and then think about it), psychological horror but not without gore, unmooring, very deliberate word choices-- in a way that is still making them easy to read, but you can feel and see the writing craft here, unique, original voice, nothing goes where you think it will.
Neugebauer is a name you might not think you know, but her stories have been seen across the horror
publishing landscape including multiple appearances in "best of" anthologies.
"The Pelt" is included and that is the story that introduced me to Neugebauer and I still love that story. But in my review I will write about others.
19 stories and 8 poems--
Poems serve as good interludes in between stories. Starts and ends with poems featuring "The Shadowlings" which helps to give the collection a larger structure. These stories are her shadowlings, that she collects and shares, but at the end, they are still calling to us.
Also the title of the collection sets the stage very well here.
There are stories here that directly draw off of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe which also show part of what she is doing here in this collection-- Neugebauer is clearly invoking some great works of horror literature but also grabbing them to make them her own. She is doing it explicitly in those 2 stories BUT I would argue that every story does it. You notice it more when they are collected together.
"Redless" about a woman who goes to great lengths to see the color red is short and taught and immersive and terrifying.
"Cilantro" and "The Little Drawer Full of Chaos" are both focused domestic dramas gone, not just horribly wrong, they are that, but also they go to weird, disquieting and terrifying places. Different places but same idea
"You Ought Not Smile as You Walk These Woods" is a dark fairy tale type story. Reminded my of Cass Khaw a lot.
I am not going to leave comment for each story here. If what I have said in general intrigues you, you should grab this collection.
Bad Hand Books is a solid small press and now with larger distribution, you can easily add all of their titles to your libraries.
Readalikes: This reminded me of the stories of Kelly Link, Cass Khaw, and Samanta Schweblin, as well as the collections Cursed Bunny by Chung and Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Lima. And The Grip of it (novel) by Jac Jemc
There are stories here that directly draw off of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allen Poe which also show part of what she is doing here
March 31, 2026
As a big fan of The Extra, I was very excited for this debut collection of the author's short fiction, and thankfully it didn't disappoint. I found that the longer a story was, the more I wound up liking it. "What Throat" was probably my favorite, it was super creepy and felt like it could have been related to The Extra in some manner, while other favorites were "The Little Drawer Full Of Chaos", "The Pelt" (which I've read three times now across various anthologies), and "That Which Never Comes."
February 17, 2026
You Have To Let Them Bleed is a masterclass in controlled devastation. Annie Neugebauer is a two-time Bram Stoker Award finalist and a nationally recognized poet. With this collection, she proves that horror is at its most powerful when it is both beautiful and brutal. This nineteen-story collection, accompanied by eight poems, moves with deliberate precision and cuts deep. Neugebauer's background in poetry is evident in every story. Her prose is lyrical without losing its bite, weaving elegance into gore and tenderness into terror. The horrors are not merely spectacles. They are intimate, emotional reckonings. Grief, guilt and quiet desperation pulse beneath the surface, making each story feel uncomfortably close. Neugebauer understands that the most haunting darkness is the kind that mirrors our own. This collection stands out because of its range. From heartbreaking to gruesome, from subtle unease to full body dread, readers are invited into a lovely darkness and refuses to let them leave unchanged. The poems act as deep breaths between descents and deepens the atmosphere rather than softening it. Its shadows remain and are proof that sometimes, to survive the darkness, you have to let them bleed. Thank you Bad Hand Books for sending me an ARC. You can go preorder directly from the publisher. This collection will publish March 17th, 2026 and you do not want to miss it!
I will have full coverage soon on The Fandomentals but I wanted to do a mini-review for Goodreads.
I will have full coverage soon on The Fandomentals but I wanted to do a mini-review for Goodreads.
January 6, 2026
I was first introduced to Annie Neugebauer’s writing via her debut novella, The Extra, that came out last year his Shortwave. I absolutely loved it - the tension, the paranoia, the dread, all with impeccable writing.
I immediately wanted to read more of her work. Thankfully, her first collection of short stories, You Have to Let Them Bleed, was soon to follow.
I loved this collection. It features 19 short stories of various styles and subjects (psychological and body horror were common throughout) along with several poems to tie the collection together.
My personal favorite stories were The Pelt, Cilantro, The Little Drawer Full of Chaos, You Ought Not Smile as You Walk These Woods, and Honey.
If you’re not familiar with Annie Neugebauer’s work yet, you should be, because she is a force to reckoned with in the modern horror landscape.
You Have to Let Them Bleed will be released on February 17th, 2026.
Thank you to Bad Hand Books for an eARC for review!
I immediately wanted to read more of her work. Thankfully, her first collection of short stories, You Have to Let Them Bleed, was soon to follow.
I loved this collection. It features 19 short stories of various styles and subjects (psychological and body horror were common throughout) along with several poems to tie the collection together.
My personal favorite stories were The Pelt, Cilantro, The Little Drawer Full of Chaos, You Ought Not Smile as You Walk These Woods, and Honey.
If you’re not familiar with Annie Neugebauer’s work yet, you should be, because she is a force to reckoned with in the modern horror landscape.
You Have to Let Them Bleed will be released on February 17th, 2026.
Thank you to Bad Hand Books for an eARC for review!
January 18, 2026
3.5 ⭐️
This is a collection made up of 19 short stories and 8 poems. Annie Neugebauer excels at crafting haunting, unsettling atmospheres, much like she did in her novella “The Extra” and you can definitely sense the Shirley Jackson influence in quite a few of these stories. The horror here is subtle, eerie, and deeply psychological, lingering long after each piece ends. This is a thoughtfully curated collection and one I wholeheartedly recommend.
This is a collection made up of 19 short stories and 8 poems. Annie Neugebauer excels at crafting haunting, unsettling atmospheres, much like she did in her novella “The Extra” and you can definitely sense the Shirley Jackson influence in quite a few of these stories. The horror here is subtle, eerie, and deeply psychological, lingering long after each piece ends. This is a thoughtfully curated collection and one I wholeheartedly recommend.
May 12, 2026
“Suffering and hope, as you may know, can also make a person quite foolish.”
4.50 / 5.00
You Have to Let Them Bleed is an anthology of 18 of Neugebauer’s previously published short stories, 1 brand new short story, and an overarching poem to loosely tie everything together.
I especially enjoyed the stories Hide, The Little Drawer Full of Chaos, The Baby, The Pelt, and Zanders the Magnificent. They each crawled under my skin and left me with such a great unsettling feeling. The things she can say without saying much at all sometimes is truly amazing!
There were a few stories that felt a little drawn out for me or just fell flat in general, but for the most part I found something to enjoy in all of them. The overarching poem about the Shadowlings and how they vary by color was a nice touch! I didn’t always understand why some stories were included in some colors and not others, but I also think that’s something we as readers would all have different opinions on.
Since this is a collection of short stories, it’s hard to totally tie one song to the whole collection, however, the song I thought of the most while reading this was “He Asked For It” by Ella Red. The song is about a narrator murd3ring a man, but claims innocence since he asked her to do it. It’s got just the right dark revenge era vibes to match many of the songs in the book. With lyrics like “I squished his head like a berry / Would pop between my thumbs / He was almost begging for it / I wasn’t the only one” and “We spoke for a moment or two / He didn’t have enough breath / But in the end we both agreed / He was better of dead” the song leaves you with the same unresolved questions some of the stories leave you with - did he deserve it? You’ll have to come to your own conclusions when you read You Have to Let Them Bleed.
4.50 / 5.00
You Have to Let Them Bleed is an anthology of 18 of Neugebauer’s previously published short stories, 1 brand new short story, and an overarching poem to loosely tie everything together.
I especially enjoyed the stories Hide, The Little Drawer Full of Chaos, The Baby, The Pelt, and Zanders the Magnificent. They each crawled under my skin and left me with such a great unsettling feeling. The things she can say without saying much at all sometimes is truly amazing!
There were a few stories that felt a little drawn out for me or just fell flat in general, but for the most part I found something to enjoy in all of them. The overarching poem about the Shadowlings and how they vary by color was a nice touch! I didn’t always understand why some stories were included in some colors and not others, but I also think that’s something we as readers would all have different opinions on.
Since this is a collection of short stories, it’s hard to totally tie one song to the whole collection, however, the song I thought of the most while reading this was “He Asked For It” by Ella Red. The song is about a narrator murd3ring a man, but claims innocence since he asked her to do it. It’s got just the right dark revenge era vibes to match many of the songs in the book. With lyrics like “I squished his head like a berry / Would pop between my thumbs / He was almost begging for it / I wasn’t the only one” and “We spoke for a moment or two / He didn’t have enough breath / But in the end we both agreed / He was better of dead” the song leaves you with the same unresolved questions some of the stories leave you with - did he deserve it? You’ll have to come to your own conclusions when you read You Have to Let Them Bleed.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
I’ve been really picky about short story collections this year. It’s a mood thing for me — or maybe more of a vibe thing — and when I requested You Have to Let Them Bleed on NetGalley, I wasn’t entirely convinced I’d be in the right headspace for it. Great title, great cover, great premise… but what if I just wasn’t in a short‑story mood?
Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about.
These stories are dark, haunting, and fabulously freaky in all the best ways. Redless follows a woman who would kill — literally — to see the color red again. The Little Drawer Full of Chaos starts with something as mundane as digging through a junk drawer for a hammer and then veers into a direction that’s wildly, delightfully unexpected. Several pieces feature unseen monsters stalking you from the shadows. There’s a deeply Kafkaesque tale about a woman whose husband falls ill and begins to transform in ways that are… let’s just say unsettling. And another about a woman who wakes in the night to the sound of a crying baby — which would be fine, except she doesn’t have one.
They’re creepy and cringey in exactly the right proportions. Neugebauer is a captivating storyteller, and the imagery she conjures in just a few pages is astonishing. This collection hits that sweet spot between uncanny and irresistible — the kind of stories that get under your skin and stay there.
Turns out I had absolutely nothing to worry about.
These stories are dark, haunting, and fabulously freaky in all the best ways. Redless follows a woman who would kill — literally — to see the color red again. The Little Drawer Full of Chaos starts with something as mundane as digging through a junk drawer for a hammer and then veers into a direction that’s wildly, delightfully unexpected. Several pieces feature unseen monsters stalking you from the shadows. There’s a deeply Kafkaesque tale about a woman whose husband falls ill and begins to transform in ways that are… let’s just say unsettling. And another about a woman who wakes in the night to the sound of a crying baby — which would be fine, except she doesn’t have one.
They’re creepy and cringey in exactly the right proportions. Neugebauer is a captivating storyteller, and the imagery she conjures in just a few pages is astonishing. This collection hits that sweet spot between uncanny and irresistible — the kind of stories that get under your skin and stay there.
May 11, 2026
This was a really good short story collection. Most of the stories were creepy and there were a few that were quite scary! I enjoy Neugebauer's writing & look forward to reading more from her! 4.25/5 stars!
May 20, 2026
This collection is fantastic! Neugebauer has this way of building so much dread while her characters are doing everyday things. There’s a slippery ambiguity in her stories that has me in its grips.
If she writes it, I will read it.
Highly recommend!
If she writes it, I will read it.
Highly recommend!
January 9, 2026
This collection of short stories and poems is amazing! They are weird, thought provoking and so fresh and original....these are not your typical horror tropes! I absolutely loved this book!
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