Spooky season is upon us and what better way to get in the spirit than by cuddling up with a good book? Horror novels are the perfect way to imbibe in Halloween time. When they’re good, they’re fully immersive and mind-altering. Scary movies are great, but scary books have a way of creeping into every crevice of the mind. It’s core-level fear, the kind you can’t escape even in your dreams.
But while horror novels follow a singular, long-form narrative, horror short stories pack another kind of punch. They’re able to convey haunting imagery, emotionality, and scares with brevity. Some of the most fear-inducing horror literature comes from short stories. Think Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, and Clive Barker. Those names synonymous not just with the genre but with the art of short storytelling in general.
Horror anthologies and short story compendiums are a great way to dig into the classics, but also to discover new blood. If you love the genre but haven’t branched beyond Stephen King, these collections are the way to go. You’ll learn names that will lead you down new, spooky trails, and open your mind to the broader expanse of horror storytelling.
Just in time for the fall, let’s take a look at eight horror collections you should read to get in the leaf-crunching, spine-tingling, cider-drinking mood. Our sampling includes a mix of vintage classics, genre-bending contemporary tales, and exciting works from female, international, and Indigenous writers.
The Dark Descent
Let’s start with a stone-cold classic. The Dark Descent is a staple of dark fiction anthologies. Considered by many to be the best-ever chronology of horror short stories, the book traces the genre and from its earliest iterations to modern day. (Well, modern at its time of publish in 1997.) If you’re looking to cover your bases, you can’t go wrong here. The book features stories from aforementioned horror staples like Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Stephen King, as well as Henry James, and Richard Matheson.
It also has stories from names you might not associate with horror, like William Faulkner and D.H. Lawrence. And it’s notable for its fine sampling of women-penned horror stories, from authors like Joanna Russ, Shirley Jackson, and Joyce Carol Oates. Split into three parts, The Dark Descent is truly a horror anthology opus. Not only will you learn the history of the genre—you’ll get spooked as hell along the way.
Make sure you read: “The Crowd” by Ray Bradbury, “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Beautiful Stranger” by Shirley Jackson
Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories
When we think of found footage horror, we tend to think of movies. But it’s an idea that’s made its way into horror fiction, too. Found: An Anthology of Found Footage Horror Stories is an excellent compendium of such tales. But how does one weave found footage into prose? This collection features an array of modern horror writers who find creative ways into the prompt. Some recount home videotapes of monsters and ghouls, others convey newsreel footage of zombie attacks, and one tells the aftermath of a grisly crime through a documentary lens.
If found footage movies make you nauseous from all the shaky cam, you’re in for a good ride with Found. It’s all the fun of “reality”-based horror without the need for Dramamine.
Make sure you read: “The Novak Roadhouse Massacre” by Alan Baxter, “Regular Saint” by Donna Lynch, “The Spew of News” by Clay McLeod Chapman
The Bloody Chamber
This Angela Carter anthology is an all-timer when it comes to horror fiction. Carter penned every story (and, in the case of the titular story, novelette) in the collection, and all are based on well-known fairy tales. But her aim was not to retell so much as recontextualize. Or, to “extract the latent content from the traditional stories,” as she puts it.
The result is a series of fables you might know told in ways you might not expect, with explicit themes of feminism, body horror, and liberation throughout. The Bloody Chamber is not traditional horror so much as dark fantasy with horrific imagery. Whether it’s a visceral retelling of the legend of Bluebeard, a World War I-era take on Sleeping Beauty, or a “The Lottery”-esque inversion of Little Red Riding Hood, Carter’s trademark poetic prose goes down like a delicious, blood-curdling poison.
Make sure you read: “The Bloody Chamber”, “The Courtship of Mr. Lyon”, “The Lady of the House of Love”
Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology
As the dust jacket for this anthology explains, many Indigenous cultures believe you should never whistle at night. Hence, the title of this miraculous compendium of stories from some of the most exciting names in Indigenous fiction. After an excellent forward by Blackfeet author Stephen Graham Jones, the anthology dives right into its many ghost, monster, curse, and revenge stories, all written by Indigenous authors and many with fresh takes on legends and horrors from their regions and tribes.
From the Hukai’po spirits from Native Hawaiians to the Lechuza of Native Mexicans, from colonization to blood quantum, these stories are not just for horror fans. They’re a window into the brutalities inflicted against Native people. The scars they still live with. And some go to very, very dark places. The result is a beautiful collection of stories marked by the history, acceptance, grief, and anger of Indigenous creatives making sure they’re stories are heard.
Make sure you read: “White Hills” by Rebecca Roanhorse, “Quantum” by Nick Medina, “Dead Owls” by Mona Susan Power
Shiver
Horror fiction needn’t fit one singular form or style. Manga is a powerful vehicle for short-form horror for what you see as much as what you read. Shiver, a collection of stories by famed manga artist Junji Ito, is one of the best examples of the genre. Ito’s trademark illustrations bring to life 10 horrifying tales about everything from never-ending dreams to balloon-headed doppelgangers to insect-tinged body horror.
The concepts themselves are terrifying enough, but the art–well, it’s next level chilling. Think heads turned centipedes and demented fanged teeth and spindly ghosts with faces you’ll see in your nightmares. This is a must-read for manga lovers and horror enthusiasts alike.
Make sure you read: “Hanging Balloons”, “The Long Dream”, “Honored Ancestors”
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
This horror fiction collection, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, is another tome of legendary writers, but this time with a more international bent. The winner of the World Fantasy Award in 20212, The Weird isn’t just straightforward horror. It’s horror that gets extra, well, weird. The stories are surreal and numinous—more contemplative than expressly horror.
You won’t see your traditional ghosts, monsters, and zombies in The Weird. Instead, you’ll find yourself enmeshed in interdimensional settings that shouldn’t exist and madness you can’t escape. Unnameable, theoretical, and reality-bending horror is sometimes the most dread-inducing there is. The Weird will not only scare you, but will make you question your very existence.
Make sure you read: “In the Penal Colony” by Franz Kafka, “Saki” by Sredni Vashtar, “The People of the Pitt” by A. Merritt
Death in the Mouth: Original Horror from People of Color
This collection of stories from BIPOC and other ethnically marginalized writers ups the ante of social commentary and drives it right into gut-punching horror fiction. As the intro asks, “What is horror to those living in the margins?” It’s a question for readers to ruminate on as they read through stories of systematic oppression, existential dread, body horror, and manic hallucinations. It’s a gripping and intense anthology featuring a wave of talented writers and beautiful illustrations that pack their own elegantly horrific punch.
Make sure you read: “Welcome to the Labyrinth” by Isha Karki, “Paradise” by Sloane Leong, “Some of Us are Grapefruit” by Rivers Solomon
Her Body and Other Parties
Carmen Maria Machado is one of the most exciting voices in contemporary horror fiction. And this, her first collection of short horror stories, is a true masterwork. As the official summary reads, this collection “bends genre to shape startling narratives that map the realities of women’s lives and the violence visited upon their bodies.” The acuity of cultural and political thought in Machado’s stories are spellbinding. As is her blending of genre, from straight-forward horror to stories tinged with science fiction and fantasy.
The most notable story of the collection, “The Husband Stitch”, is an updated take on Alvin Schwartz’s “The Green Ribbon”, the story that haunted many of our childhoods. Here, it centers on a wife’s plea for boundaries in her marriage, and the too-familiar encroaching of them all the same. You won’t soon forget these twisted tales, especially if you relate to Machado’s themes of bodily autonomy and feminine sexuality.
Make sure you read: “The Husband Stitch”, “Especially Heinous”, “Difficult at Parties”