no stephen king in sight
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 that i've been maintaining for myself since 2022. it was time to share the wealth!
created by leylines
last updated May, 2026
Comments
LEYLINES this list is so good! I went combing my library for recs for you - the quest to read horror by people other than straight white cis men is so worthy. Here we go!
- Literally anything by Rin Chupeco - their prose is so beautiful! I've read The Sacrifice and We're Not Safe Here so far and both were excellent.
- Sisters of the Crimson Vine by P.L. McMillan (SO good, such a vibe!)
- The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff, plus anything else they've written. They have a couple of books coming out later in the year that look AMAZING.
- Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito - I know this one is divisive but I really enjoyed it! Her other novel, Mrs. March may also fit but I'm not totally sure, it sounds more like a thriller.
- The Place Where They Buried Your Heart by Christina Henry. A lot of folks also rec The House That Horror Built but I didn't like that one very much.
- Moonflow by Bitter Karella
- The Cut and These Familiar Walls by CJ Dotson - I enjoyed The Cut and These Familiar Walls knocked my socks off, it was so terrifying!
- Red Rabbit Ghost by Jen Julian
- Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield - good ol vegan horror!
- Birthday Party Demon by Wendy Dalrymple - and basically anything else Wendy writes, she's so good and her range is amazing!
- Black Rose by Arlo Z. Graves - WEIRD WESTERNS MY BELOVED
- Ambrosia by Madison Wheatley - everybody read this, she's self published and so so so good.
- Leech by Hiron Ennes - I haven't read The Works of Vermin yet but everyone says it's amazing.
- The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy - this and its sequels are fantastic!
- Salvaged by Madeleine Roux
- The Helm of Midnight by Marina J. Lostetter and subsequent books in that trilogy.
- The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd-Jones
- Briardark and Waywarden by S.A. Harian
- Chills by Mary SanGiovanni (there are more books in this series but they're a little hard to find!)
- The Lost Village by Camilla Sten
- Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
- The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James (she's written a ton of other books but I haven't read any of them yet)
- The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Keep on going with this - it's already such a fantastic list!
leylinesOP
YAYYY im so glad you love it, it's near and dear to my heart and i'm so glad others will benefit too đ„č
i'm going to add all these recs asap, thank you so much EEP
recommendations are always welcome. the eternal quest to avoid white man horror is not a solo one!
for series, only the first book will be added since the list is already quite long and will only get longer.
if you see something that doesn't fit here, please let me know. it was most likely added in error and i will rectify it :)
I pretty much exclusively read horror by authors who aren't white men lol. I feel like the genre is perfect for exploring the anxieties and struggles around being part of the non-dominant social group. I read The Shining recently and whew, it was soooo different from what I had come to expect from the horror genre! So I have a lot of recommendations if you don't mind!
One of my favorite authors is Isabel Cañas! She does tend to write horror/romance mash-ups lol and I think The Hacienda is probably the scariest but I love all her books.
I also love: House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson, The Night Guest by Hildur KnĂștsdĂłttir (though I don't think a lot of other people do lol), My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen, Human Sacrifices by MarĂa Fernanda Ampuero, Walking Practice by Dolki Min, Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon. Some of these authors have other horror books too but these are my personal favorites. Feel free to add their other works though!
i LOVE recs thank you so much!! iâm looking at this like a neverending group project LOL, adding all of these á( á )á
i donât know how i forgot isabel cañas, sheâs been on my tbr foreverrrr, i really need to get to the hacienda because iâve heard SUCH good things about it. perhaps this is my sign to put it on hold!
also: i loved the night guest too but i never see anything but hate for it, iâm so glad to find someone else who loved it hehe
Hell yeah!!
Omg yes please! I hope you like it!
I'm also glad to find someone else who loved The Night Guest! I almost didn't add it to my list since I know it's so unpopular. But that ending really made me think!!
leylinesOP
no literally STILL think about the ending
Also, I didn't love this book but it was so unhinged I kind of want more people to read it lol: The New Seoul Park Jelly Massacre by Cho Yeeun.
leylinesOP
adding đ«Ą itâs someoneâs cup of tea!
This is such an amazing list! Going to be adding so much to my reading.
I shall plough through my libraries to see if there are any recs, but I off the top of my heas, I did love Waking the Dead, a short story collection by Yvette Tan last year.
yayyyy im glad you like it!! sorry in advance for making your tbr even longer đ«Ł
adding that now, definitely let me know if you have any more recs!
Wow love this list!! đ€©
