Recs if you like Nightbitch...

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, started in 2022 and brought to pb in 2026.

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

Not all collections hold things you can touch. This one holds worlds that breathe, selves that dissolve, and realities that refuse to hold their shape. These are the fictions that live on the edge of what language can contain - and sometimes just beyond. Admission is free, through entry requires a signed waiver: the curator cannot be held responsible for any transformations that occur upon your exit. We welcome specimen recommendations!

these books use (literal) hunger as a political tool to speak to women’s oppression, repression and desire, whether through overt cannibal metaphor, speculative dispatches, or more subtle nuances of appetite in literary fiction. these women are hungry for something more, whether they’re allowed to act on it or not.

recommendations welcome!

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.

in the first edition of ‘the monstrous-feminine’, barbara creed challenges the dominant representation of women in horror films as victims, arguing that patriarchal ideology constructs women as monstrous because of their sexuality (or lack thereof).

later, creed reinterprets the monstrous-feminine as a being who embraces her body and reclaims her otherness. in line with this contemporary vision, these are books which use horror to redefine notions of ‘womanhood’.

recommendations welcome!

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

Books recommended by musician Lucy Dacus, a solo artist and member of the band boygenius. Pulled from her goodreads list.

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

the gurls NEED to read horror books 💋 i wouldn’t say these are all horror but that’s left to the reader to make that assumption

they call me hell, they call me Stacy, they call me her, they call me Jane…that’s not my name!!!

this is a list of books featuring characters without a name

as always, taking any and all suggestions!!

supporting women's rights and very very wrongs

pink, sophisticated & sometimes fatale <3 curating the personality of my aspirations (added some essential nonfic & poetry!)

the people of this town love halloween so much they celebrate it twice a year

Books in this list are in at least two quests. Thus helping to earn more badges. Books will span different genres. Once I scan through all the quests, I plan to further organize the list. I am thinking of creating a seperate list and moving the books with three or more quests to the new list and keeping the two badge books in this list. Are there other ways you would organize a list this big?

Debut novels that feel like they were written by seasoned writers. Whether it be because of the author's clear voice, the depth of the themes or the quality of the prose, you'll be surprised that this is the author's first published novel

Note: The authors featured may have published other works, like short story collections or plays, but the book featured here is their first novel

For the girlies that like their horror with a side of glitter!

Horror books to read just for the aesthetic