Recs if you like The White Guy Dies First: 13 Scary Stories of Fear and Power...

are you sick of being recommended stephen king when you ask for a horror novel? have you picked up a book expected to be scared, but the scariest thing about it was a woman being needlessly tormented and gaslit? have you read 4627473 books about a man in a haunted house and need something different?

if so, this list is for you :)

a masterlist of horror by anyone who isn't a straight cis white man, started in 2022 and brought to pb in 2026.

on average people read 40-60 pages an hour, so this is a continuously updated collection of books with 60 pages or less & a couple short story collections

Horror short story collections and anthologies

Weird, mostly girlys going through different unique life adventures. Supporting girlies (the girls, theys and thems) rights and wrongs.  Regina George screaming down her hallway into her room hunting down the Burn Book

as comprehensive a guide to ya horror as i can make it! work in progress, suggestions welcome ♡

Horror and thriller stories that prominently feature trans characters, across age groups and sub-genres. 🔞

Recommendations welcome!

✦ I have not read all of these books - if you notice anything that seems to be mis-labeled/mis-placed on this list, please let me know! ✦

Horror and horror-adjacent stories with queer themes/characters/pairings written by authors of color, across sub-genres and age groups. 🔞

Recommendations welcome!

✦ I have not read all of these books - if you notice anything that seems to be mis-labeled/mis-placed on this list, please let me know! ✦

Horror books with pink covers!

For when you need a quick horror fix

books who have the same style of covers; featuring bright hot or neon pink🩷 with neon yellow💛!

sadly, the default pagebound editions might not be the correct ones so you’ll have to look through the available editions. pagebound please let us choose</3

open to recs!

Short stories are delightful, skillful, and engaging! Don’t like a story? Put it down. Love a specific author? Buy a collection of their works. Want to find new authors? Read an anthology. They can span any genre and go in any direction—have fun reading them!

These Diverse Baseline Challenge was created by @bookish.millennial & @themargherita.s (on instagram). In 2025, the goal is to read 1 book by a racialized author each month. This challenge is meant to encourage readers to try genres they historically don’t reach for, find new-to-them racialized authors, and to encourage reflection on our reading habits.

This is a mix of recommendations by the challenge organizers and myself.

Books to read around spooky time

The title kinda says it all: young adult horror (and adjacent) books across the vast spectrum of queer identity!

Recommendations welcome!

✦ I have not read all of these books - if you notice anything that seems to be mis-labeled/mis-placed on this list, please let me know! ✦

Every day in the month of October Year of Queer Lit brings you a hauntingly good LGBTQIA+ book rec! :)