Recs if you like A Haunting in the Arctic...
cold horror
does it matter if youβre shivering from fear or the cold?
H2O? more like H2NO
What lies within the depths... Speculative Horror books where the main horror element directly relates to a body of water (whether that be a swamp, ocean, lake, river, etc.)
Note: must be more than just the backdrop
Keyword: aquatic horror recommendations and corrections welcome!
Feral and Hysterical: Works by Women
List of recommendations included in Sadie Hartmann's Feral and Hysterical: Mother Horrorβs Ultimate Reading Guide to Dark and Disturbing Fiction by Women.
Pairs with 50 States, 50 Books by Women list.
Gab Smolders Horror Book Talk
I can't be the only one who want to remember all the books without jumping around in a video, right?
Polar Exploration
for anybody else who loved amc's the terror. a mix of fiction and non-fiction exploring both the artic and antarctica. i may also throw in some non-polar naval disasters such as the whaleship essex. i have not read all of these but they're all at least on my tbr
Outside freezes, so I want chills in my book
Horrors and thrillers set in winter (21st December to 20th March, but I will count earlier December as winter too to make things easier) or in a really cold place that reminds of wintertime.
The list will contain both more known books that you've probably already been recommended and some that I've seen have had less attention, at least over here. I have not read them all, but I want to complete this list myself too during the next Christmasses.
gab smolders 2025 (horror) book talk
what gab smolders read in 2025 as per her book talk video! horror + in tier order from most to least liked by her:
β S TIER: from "night shoot" to "old country"
β A TIER: from "what stalks the deep" to "listen to your sister"
β B TIER: from "the long walk" to "the gathering"
β C TIER: from "banquet for the damned" to "model home"
β D TIER: from "3 streets" to "my darling dreadful thing"
β F TIER: from "basilisk" to "survivor song"
Polar Horror
Horror set in or around the Arctic and Antarctic Circles
Goodreads "Horror For Beginners"
Created from the list on Goodreads by Cybil and Sadie Hartmann (September 29, 2025)
Setting: somewhere chilly
Antarctica, Patagonia, Alaska, Canada, upper Great Lakes, somewhere in the mountains, wintertime, etc. (fiction and nonfiction)
when the ice is not quite thick enough
a collection of (ant)arctic horror/gothic books because i am fully obsessed with this genre
Feral and Hysterical
This is a list of horror books written by women, as recommended by Sadie Hartmann (Mother Horror) in her book Feral and Hysterical. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of Feral and Hysterical because it is so much more than a list of books. There are more lists of books, but also thoughtful essays by women writers. It's worth spending some time with Feral and Hysterical.
"Women are overqualified to write fictional horror. Period." -- Sadie Hartmann
Celtic Mythology and Historcal Fantasy
Some recommendations for delving into Celtic mythology and fantasy inspired by Irish, Welsh and Scottish history.
Dangerous Watersπ
water and ocean based books - from thrillers to fantasy
Cold Core TBR
cold core that people have suggested
