Recs if you like The Twisted Ones...

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.

A compilation of all the books published by Ursula Vernon under the pen name T. Kingfisher. Will be updated as new works are announced!

Hauntology is the philosophical concept, as quoted by Mark Fisher from his article taking a deeper look into Derrida's philosophical work, that "the present is always haunted by the ghosts of the past and the unfulfilled promises of the future." From generational trauma to dark histories to dying Old World pagan traditions, these elements persist throughout the wide genre of folk horror. These books explore deeply into the hauntings of the past and the instability of the future.

A selection of contemporary Southern Gothic titles exploring the decay, despair, and trauma of the reconstructed American South. Come for the palpably atmospheric settings and descriptions, stay for the literary commentary on the legacy of the South's oft-romanticized past.

As a note: I did not include the most well known writers in the genre, e.g. Truman Capote, Harper Lee, William Faulkner, etc. as the list is more focused on the resurgence of Southern Gothic in contemporary literature.

These unsettling mountains

The horrors that haunt the woods

All of the books under this pen name for those of us who can't bare to miss any

I like to be spooked... but not loads of gore. And I want to sleep

I want to up my horror comedy literary game, given I will always think of Shaun of the Dead first. Here's what y'all told me to read.

A reading list celebrating the women who know exactly how to get under your skin! Thankful for the gurlies!!!

We think of summer as the season of light, but shadows are longest when the sun is highest. It is the time of the year when the woods grow too thick to see through, the water grows too dark to see into, and the heat makes the mind play tricks. From the rotting porches of the South to the blood-stained cabins of the North... We call them the Summer Nightmares.

Stephen King is overrated, read these horror books instead.

💬OPEN TO SUGGESTIONS. Just comment and I will add.

For all the body horror and splatterpunk fans. Ranging from light to absolutely brutal! NOTE: Most of these are books I have read but this list is also a library of what I have yet to read. If you have suggestions, please do comment!

Forget everything you know about the golden hour. In these halls, knowledge isn't just power—it's a blood sacrifice, a cursed bargain, or a secret that could tear the stars from the sky. Whether you're navigating the lethal corridors of the Scholomance, deciphering the forbidden linguistics of Oxford’s silver-working, or joining a secret society at Yale that deals in the ghosts of the past, this list is for the scholars who prefer their ink black and their magic dangerous.

A mix of older classic weird fic and more modern strange stories. Please give me suggestions!!

Horror books with messed up families