Recs if you like Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of '70s and '80s Horror Fiction...
Teach me something new and oddly specific π¬
Niche nonfiction, aka micro-histories!
microhistories: βhow do you even know that??β
microhistory: the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research (such as an event, community, individual or a settlement); it aspires to "ask large questions in small places"
Books About Books π
Bibliophilia at its best - books about books, readers, libraries, bookstores!
Horror π«±π½βπ«²π½ Non-Fiction
Non-fiction about horror, those is the horror industry, horror-adjacent subjects, and down-right terrifying books.
waiter, waiter! more rats in my books!
emphasis on βinβ. sister list to βabsolutely rat-tasticβ! for this list, rats do not have to be mentioned in the title, but they MUST be mentioned in the book, featured on the cover, or both! suggestions are extremely welcomeπ
Nonfiction: The Horror Genre
Nonfiction books about the mechanics, psychology, and other aspects of the horror genre.
Recommendations are always welcome!
pop culture non-fiction
... or pop culture leaning.
On and About Horror
Books that discuss the horror genre in literature and cinema
the kids are (not) alright
you definitely donβt want to babysit the kids in these books!! these are some bad kids, some might even say evil kids, like theyβre possessed by demons or something, think Damien from The Omen or the twins in Goodnight Mommy
as always, taking any and all suggestions!
Satanic Panic
Books that brought on Satanic Panic, or resulted from it.
Goodreads "Horror For Beginners"
Created from the list on Goodreads by Cybil and Sadie Hartmann (September 29, 2025)
behind the horror
Nonfiction books about horror as a genre in movies, television, and literature.
Horror in Nonfiction: memoirs, analyses and more
True stories of horror, authors who take a horror lense to their memoirs or historical, film, literary analysis of horror. Thereβs even a scientific analysis of cannibalism, including humans interest in the taboo subject.
Horror Academia
Books about the horror genre from an academic lens because we need more of those!!
did you know...
no? well, now you do Books about [niche subject] or [not so niche subject] that spam from the mysterious and the macabre to the weird and unsettling to just interesting and fun
Paperbacks From Hell - Recommended Reading
the recommended reading list compiled by Will Errickson at the end of the book
why horror now?
who is horror? what is horror? when is horror? where is horror? why is horror? how is horror? (a list of nonfiction books about horror, generally in america)
Non-Fiction
Books Iβve Read With Twin Peaks References
What it says on the tin
