It's officially spooky season (let's be real, spooky season is a 365 day experience for me). And there are so many great books releasing. But one I enjoyed immensely was Night of Madness by Ryan Douglass. If you love extreme challenges, haunted houses, and a heroine you root for, this is the perfect book to go grab! It comes out on September 29th, 2026, and is releasing with cool sprayed edges.

I'm so happy to have had the opportunity to ask Ryan Douglass about his newest release!

About Night of Madness

Mara is a horror buff whose only fond memories of her dad are bonding over movies by Jack Stanley—the producer of the eighties. Stanley’s campy slasher movies may have kept Mara’s fraught parental relationship on life support and gained a cult following, but the man himself has faded from the public eye…until he announces a contest centered around Asylum, his most terrifying film. Five teen influencers will be invited to spend the night on the fully constructed set; whoever sticks it out until morning wins a hundred thousand dollars.

When Mara and the other contestants arrive on set, it’s a horror fan’s dream being immersed in the asylum setting, but as the night wears on, they realize the danger is more than movie magic… They’re not there to win or lose but to live or die. As Mara fights to survive, she discovers an inner ruthlessness she didn’t know she had. Just how far will she go to see the sunrise—and will she still recognize herself by the end?

About Ryan Douglass

Ryan Douglass is a queer author and poet from Atlanta, Georgia. He is the New York Times bestselling author of the The Taking of Jake Livingston, which was an ALA Rainbow Booklist Pick and a Black Caucus American Library Association Best of the Best Booklist Pick. His sophomore novel, The Great Disillusionment of Nick and Jay, was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection and an Indie Next Pick.

Douglass’s work combines psychological depth with genre innovation, bringing underrepresented voices to the forefront of young adult fiction. He holds a BA in theatre from Hofstra University and lives in Atlanta with his dog.

Author Interview With Ryan Douglass

How would you describe your novel in a sentence?

Night of Madness is about a group of teens who are offered $100,000 to spend one night inside an abandoned asylum, only to discover that the runner of the game has brought them there to off them one by one.

What drew you to horror? Was there a particular story that you read/watched?

Early children’s horror books that stuck with me are Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac, The Skull of Truth by Bruce Coville, and the Cirque du Freak books by Darren Shan. I can’t really point to one single book or movie that started it for me. It was more a gradual realization that horror was the place where a lot of intrigue lived because it helped me to confront my fears as a reclusive child.

What was your writing process like?

My process for this tended to be very all or nothing, so I had long sessions with this book, sometimes going 12 hours or more, and then I would just not touch it for weeks. I wanted to simulate the feeling of “one night”, so I would just sit and go through the entire thing in one sitting so I could feel connected to the experience. Between the writing sprints, my process was very gradual and abstract, and involved collecting images and music, and watching movies in the same genre. I really wanted to immerse myself in the right visuals and sound to accurately create this neon gothic retro vibe on the page.

Your novel deals with haunted houses and haunted experiences. Do you have a favorite one you’ve been to?

I like the idea of haunted attractions more than I like going to them. I haven’t been to very many, but my favorites are the ones that are immersive enough that you get lost in them and have to cling on to the people you came with. I actually think that’s a great bonding activity. 

A part of this story deals with people’s drive for the ultimate fan experience, even if people get hurt from it. Did you draw from any real-life examples?

I was definitely thinking about the way social media has turned life in general into content to the point that it’s excessive and a bit annoying. There’s so much pressure to generate attention, build a following, and turn yourself into a brand. And even though celebrity culture may be changing, the desire to be “famous” is still very much alive. I was interested in exploring how empty that desire can be. The book also looks at how misfortune and bad things happening to people can be sold as entertainment and what that says about the audience’s capacity to really care about people.

What was your favorite part of writing Night of Madness?

I liked putting different personalities into the same space and watching their relationships change as the night went on. I also had a lot of fun with the actual horror sequences and making the environment interact with the cast, making the architecture come alive.

What was it like being in Mara’s head? How did you create her and how did you choose her to be your main character?

Mara was fun because she’s cynical and deadpan without being actually detached from what’s happening around her. She notices when people are treated poorly and thinks critically about systems that exploit people and cause harm. She has a sense of humor but is not easy to play with. That combo of qualities made her the right person to lead this particular story because it’s the ruthlessness mixed with care that allows her to survive without damaging her core self in the process.

Do you have a favorite character?

I have a soft spot for Mara, maybe because I relate to her more than the others and her sense of fashion is my favorite in the cast.

Would you have survived the night?

It’s hard to say because Jack has so many tricks up his sleeve, but I actually can be pretty mellow under pressure and I do know how to fight, so maybe.

Do you have a favorite character?

I have a soft spot for Mara, maybe because I relate to her more than the others and her sense of fashion is my favorite in the cast.

Your book speaks about horror but also the strive towards outlandish content versus authentic content--what made you put that into this book? (so good by the way!)

Thank you! I think online culture sells us this idea that being interesting means being extreme in some way because people’s attention spans are so short when they’re doomscrolling. So, content has to be provocative, funny, or dark, or sexy, or outrageous and sometimes that is not genuine, because people tend to be mundane a lot of the time. Mara sits at the intersection of being really authentic but needing to be competitive as an “influencer” to enter the competition. So, that part of the book, where she’s doing over-the-top stuff to be seen, is just her trying to figure out who she is when the camera is on, how close that person can be to the real her and still generate interest.

What do you hope readers take from Night of Madness?

I hope readers have a fun time reading it, because it is intended to be a fun read, first. But on a deeper level, I want them to question what we’re willing to do to be considered “valuable” in a superficial attention economy, and question if it’s worth sacrificing our true selves to build a brand that may not actually be fulfilling.

Would you do an ultimate fan experience for $100,000?

I want to say yes because $100,000 would bless my life, but after researching extreme experiences for this book I think no. I’m delicate and don’t typically enjoy feeling like I’m in danger. I like really comfortable, tranquil environments.

You’ve carved a space for yourself in the teen horror genre--do you have any upcoming horror releases? What are you currently working on?

I just finished the sequel to Night of Madness, so I’m definitely not done with Mara and this world just yet. If all goes according to schedule it should be releasing around Halloween 2027. I’m expanding the ideas from the first book through a different lens and a new environment. Beyond that, I’m working on several adult projects, and hoping one of them will follow this series, as I’m feeling somewhat stagnant in YA. I’m really hoping my gothic horror about religious trauma and family trauma will be the one up next. 

What’s a recent book you read and loved?

Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane was a great read.

Thank you so much Ryan for allowing me to ask you questions about your book. If you haven't already, grab a copy of Night of Madness.