Recs if you like Motherthing...

An emergent subgrene by and about strange women on themes of female rage, sisterhood, hunger, attraction, beauty, motherhood, violence, and much more.

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. i've been maintaining it for myself since 2022 and it was time to share the wealth!

books where women eat or think about eating other people

Fiction & nonfiction books that explore the complexities and traumas of mother-child relationships or in which such relationships play a central role. While many books on this list are what I’d classify as including “mommy issues” there are others that are more about the different perspectives and nuances of the mother-child (often specifically mother-daughter) relationship. Some books center the child, some the mother, some both.

Suggestions are welcome.

Books that are atmospheric, emotionally unsettling, beautifully written, a little weird, and linger long after you finish them.

...are unhinged, lonely, tortured, kooky, crazy, unmoored, yearning, plotting, stalking, monologuing, self-pitying, lost, etc.

Following women on journeys to do weird and maybe violent things.

supporting women's rights and very very wrongs

Sometimes we just need a little humor alongside our nightmares. Here are some Comedy Horror books to give you a good laugh and scare at the same time.

*Suggestions welcome!

Horror stories about pregnancy and children that will immediately take away any baby fever you might have

pregnancy horror has been a prevalent form of body horror for decades, popularised by the arrival of rosemary’s baby. this list offers a mix of classics and more niche picks, traversing the many questions of authority, complexities, and subversions of the subgenre. these books explore pregnancy and its aftermath, sometimes literally, and sometimes through metaphor.

Horror books to read just for the aesthetic

When homes, nurseries, kitchens, suburbs, etc. become the most dangerous places of all

horror novels written by women about girls and women with deadly appetites. despite the title there is sapphic lit here i just liked the pun. these books focus on human cannibals, i.e. not supernatural monsters like vampires, werewolves, etc. is the cannibalism a metaphor for love? rage? sex? all of the above!

These are novels where love is expressed through cannibalism. More explanation in the comments

I think more books should be about old people getting into shenanigans. There is this small part of the book space with the stories of people who find the meaning of their life or mess others up because they don't care anymore. These are their stories , hilarious, emotional, heartwarming and heartbreaking, each unique...

Hope they make you feel alive!