This book is amazing. It’s been several years since Tananarive Due, one of the great voices in speculative fiction and horror, published a book, and what a book it is! Ranging from the fantastically frightening (I literally had to put the book down after reading “Last Stop on Route 9”) to the darkly disturbing (like “Migration”), Due’s second collection of short stories is worth the wait. I love that the collection is divided into four parts, which are connected by characters, locations, or themes. While the stories vary greatly in terms of character, plot, and style, they all have in common a rumbling undercurrent of fear that’ll have you biting the nails on one hand as fast as you’re turning the pages with the other.

How can you not love a thriller featuring an extraterrestrial whose need for food — humans, of course — leads to a clever use of dating apps, constantly shifting gender performance, and lots of alien angst? Oh, and did I mention that the novel also has some fascinating b&w illustrations (the cover gives you a preview of what’s inside) sprinkled throughout? The narration is fascinating, delivered in an almost clinical style that perfectly complements the protagonist and plot. As you might expect with a novel featuring an alien being, Min also delves into some humorous and insightful social commentary. It’s an unusual read, for sure, but one I highly recommend.

Don’t Fear the Reaper is book #2 of Jones’s Indian Lake trilogy (which began with My Heart is a Chainsaw), and what a welcome installation in that series it is! It only took a handful of pages before I was completely hooked (pun totally intended — the book’s escaped serial killer has a hook for one hand) on this one. The book opens with Jade Daniels’s release from prison four years after the bloodshed in Chainsaw, but her homecoming turns out to be just as bloody. Jones works his terrifying magic yet again with a cast of brilliantly rendered characters, a deadly blizzard, and a series of murders so disturbing in their imaginative detailing that you’ll be glad to have to wait for the next book to come out so you can recover your wits.

I love a good La Llorona story, and V. Castro’s book is definitely a good one! It’s about Alejandra — affluent mother, wife, and adoptee. Despite appearances, Alejandra is struggling hard. She’s maybe losing her mind? Because, well, wouldn’t you think you were losing it at least a little bit if you kept seeing apparitions of a weeping woman in a white dress? Luckily, Alejandra teams up with therapist and curandera Melanie Ortiz, and before too long it becomes apparent that there’s more to the situation than Alejandra could have guessed. It’s a psychological kind of horror novel that, at its heart, is about family, gender, and trauma.

I love a good reworking of a well-worn tale, and L.S. Stratton delivers just that in Not So Perfect Strangers. Deftly reshaping Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, in which two men on a train devise a clever murder plot to kill each other’s wives, Stratton’s thriller delivers a far more insidious plot that unspools the myriad dynamics and far reaches of gendered violence. Well-to-do Madison Gingell has a truly depraved side to her character (which is perfect for this book). When she stumbles into Tasha Jenkins’s car on what’s supposed to be Tasha’s last night in town as she flees her abusive husband, the encounter kicks off a series of events that quickly spiral out of anyone’s control. In addition to being a really good read, Not So Perfect Strangers is a smart criticism of the intersections of racism, patriarchy, and privilege.

If you’re a history buff, then this is the perfect horror novel for you. It delves into a not-distant-enough chapter in U.S. American history characterized by intense anti-Asian hatred: the Japanese American incarceration camps of WWII. But this isn’t your typical incarceration tale. In the 1940s of Katsu’s imagining, Meiko Briggs and her mixed-race daughter Aiko are incarcerated…and then the really bad stuff starts happening. With demons on the loose and a sickness gripping the camps, Meiko, Aiko and an unexpected ally are running out of time to save the nation from the hateful fervor the sickness brings to the surface.

Jade may think she’s playing her deadbeat dad for a college tuition paycheck, but when she heads to Vietnam to help him on his summer real estate project, she realizes she may be in over her head. It’s not just that her dad is renovating a super creepy old French colonial manor in the middle of nowhere…it’s that the place is obviously haunted. The links binding Jade’s family to the house and its violent role in colonial rule are slowly unearthed, but the more Jade learns, the harder it gets for her to make it out unscathed. Besides having a beautifully unnerving cover that’ll freak you out just by sitting on your nightstand, Tran’s novel is an engrossing and visceral read. If you like haunted house novels, this is a real treat.

This book is creepy. Which, okay, it should be since it’s on this list, but still. This takes the trope of a monster in the forest to a new level, and it’s one of the best works of horror I’ve read this year. The story follows Liz during a truly horrendous week. Not only did she have to come back to her small hometown in rural Pennsylvania for her best friend’s wedding, but then her best friend’s daughter went missing in the woods on Liz’s watch. Turns out, the town’s long and hidden history of Black girls going missing in the forest has its roots in racist fear, and Liz is about to discover just how much of the small community is implicated in these very not random acts of violence.

This thriller has really spectacular mystery elements to it. Like Jayatissa’s first book, My Sweet Girl, You’re Invited delivers a female protagonist who’s struggling with her mental health. However, that’s where the similarities end (except, of course, the excellent storytelling that prevails in both books). Amaya has decided to accept the invitation to ex-best-friend, Kaavi’s wedding, and it’s pretty obvious from the start that things are not going to go well. One very angry Sri Lankan family, a hotbed of interfering aunties, and a ginormous secret later, the climax will have you flipping pages as fast as you can to see what happens. I love it when I think I have a book figured out, only to discover I’m wrong and the author has taken me somewhere unexpected — and that’s exactly what happened with Jayatissa’s latest read.

Another titan among the bestselling horror books of all time, Dracula has never gone out of print since it was first published in 1897. The tale of the quintessential vampire has also entered the public domain, so sales numbers are vague, but it has continued to be printed for over 120 years. Ironically, that’s similar to the demand for the bestselling book of all time across genres — the Bible.

Vampires have repeatedly proven their immortality. Since 1976, Anne Rice’s masterpiece has sold over 150 million copies. It also spawned an excellent movie adaptation and an even better recent AMC series. (I said what I said. The AMC series is absolutely perfect and I will die on that hill.) I recently reread the novel after watching the show and Rice’s tale is as spellbinding as ever. If you haven’t experienced the melancholy musings of Louis de Pointe du Lac and his mercurial maker Lestat, you are missing out.

I read all of V.C. Andrews’s books growing up and they’re disturbing in a variety of ways. Little did I know, Andrews’s popular gothic horror has sold more than 40 million copies. Admittedly, I didn’t think of this book as horror before making this list, but the tale is horrifying. A disinherited woman on the verge of abject poverty, returns home with her four children. However, the children are locked in the attic for YEARS to keep their existence from their grandfather’s knowledge. There are some truly upsetting twists and turns, including incest and sexual violence, so keep that in mind before trying this one out.

A great white shark preys on the inhabitants of a small beach town, while three men try to catch and kill it. That description doesn’t seem like much of an interesting story, and yet it is a huge staple of pop culture. The iconic shark movie that we all know from a mere two notes of its score, is actually based on one of the bestselling horror books of all time. It has sold over 20 million copies to date, and ruined the beach for an entire generation.

With over 13 million copies sold, The Exorcist has earned its place on this list. As a horror aficionado, I am embarrassed to say that I watched the movie for the first time last year and did not enjoy it. I know, I know. It was groundbreaking in its time and I totally respect that. What I can say, however, is that the book is better. I read it last year and found it absolutely horrifying. I would love to see it adapted with today’s technological advances, but I know Hollywood would just mess it up.

I know you’re picturing Anthony Hopkins’s skin-crawling take on Hannibal Lecter. His performance was one of many amazing aspects of the movie adaptation. However, the book is not to be overlooked. With over 10 million copies sold, this bestseller is every bit as engaging as the popular movie version.

I have never wanted to watch or read this classic because I find the concept of motherhood inherently frightening. Even if you aren’t carrying the spawn of Satan, growing and then caring for an entire human is a huge undertaking. Also, the very realistic gaslighting that happens to poor Rosemary is too much for me. I am in the minority, however, as it has sold over 4 million copies to date and was the bestselling horror book of the 1960s.

Instead of making this list like 50% Stephen King, I’m highlighting just a few of his popular works. To date, the story of telekinetic teenager Carrie White has sold over 4 million copies. It is also one of the author’s best and most beloved movie adaptations. King’s other bestsellers include The Stand at over 4.5 million copies sold and Misery, which was the fourth-most-popular hardcover book of 1987 and the 15th most popular book of the decade.

If you’ve heard of the horror movie The Ring, you know it’s an American adaptation of the popular Japanese horror series. What you might not know is that the Japanese movies are based on books. This, the first in the series, has sold more than 2.8 million copies. It follows a reporter who is the grieving uncle of one of four teens to die mysteriously and simultaneously after returning from a holiday resort. As it turns out, the teens all watched a cursed videotape that kills anyone who views it.

With over 1 million copies sold, World War Z brought zombies to the bestseller lists. This unique take on the sub-genre is written as a collection of firsthand accounts of individuals who have survived a pandemic that changed much of the world’s population into a zombie horde. The hardcover version spent four weeks on The New York Times Best Seller List and has been loosely adapted into a movie starring Brad Pitt.

Not all of Stephen King’s bestsellers have passed the million mark, but they’re still doing impressive numbers. The Shining, the popular story of Jack Torrance’s descent into madness over a winter of isolation at the haunted Overlook Hotel, has sold over 700,000 copies and been adapted into one of the undisputed best horror movies of all time. Among King’s other popular books that spawned excellent movie adaptations, Pet Sematary has sold 800,000 copies. It has also been a bestseller, with an admittedly dubious source estimating it at 300,000 copies sold.

First published in 1886, this classic sold over 40,000 copies in its first six months in print. By 1901, it had allegedly sold 250,000 copies in the United States. This enduring novella is considered the defining book of the gothic horror sub-genre. Jekyll and Hyde have become more than book characters in our culture, making the names an easy shorthand to describe someone mercurial or secretly evil despite a kind demeanor.

I read the illustrated version of this tale and was completely unprepared for something that looked so harmless to be this disturbing. Published in 1962, We Have Always Lived in the Castle sold close to 30,000 copies in its first three months of publication, hitting The New York Times Best Seller List in month four. For comparison, Jackson’s previous novel, The Haunting of Hill House, sold about 12,000 copies in its first six months of publication.

Four American Indian men go hunting and end up haunted in this psychological horror. Years after the ill-fated hunting trip, their families are stalked by a ghostly figure carrying an elk’s head. According to a favorable review on NPR, “[b]esides the creeping horror and gory poetry, The Only Good Indians does a lot in terms of illuminating Native American life from the inside, offering insights into how old traditions and modern living collide in contemporary life.”

This New York Times bestseller follows the only Black woman working at a New York publishing company. She is understandably delighted when another Black woman joins the staff. Unfortunately, that’s when something strange begins to unfold. In a New York Times book review, it is described as “tak[ing] on traits of the horror genre with a dash of magical realism…there is certainly something very Jordan Peele-esque about the plot.”

With a 4.3/5 star review on Amazon, this horror novella is a frightening story of magic and monsters. “A tribute to and a criticism of the early 20th century horror writer H.P. Lovecraft,” LaValle’s book is a spin on “The Horror of Red Hook,” which is considered to be one of the classic author’s most racist and xenophobic works. According to a review on Tor.com, “The Ballad of Black Tom should delight and disturb fans of cosmic horror.”

The story of the Donner Party is so disturbing that it has lingered in our collective consciousness for nearly two centuries. Ninety people were trapped in a freezing mountain range, forced to cannibalism to survive. Katsu gives this true story a supernatural twist in this suspenseful tale. Horror titan Stephen King said this book is “deeply, deeply disturbing, hard to put down, not recommended reading after dark.”

Described as a Korean take on Stephen King’s Misery, this story follows Oghi, a man paralyzed after a car accident that killed his wife and child. With only his grieving mother-in-law to care for him, Oghi is bedridden and neglected. All the while, his mother-in-law obsessively digs holes in his late wife’s garden. The New York Times called it “a surreal and mesmerizing tale.”

Already a proven modern classic, The Gilda Stories recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. If I have any say, this will be one of the bestselling horror books of all time. One of my friends texted me and said, “You have to read this book. It’s about a bisexual Black vampire who is an ex-slave and joins a coven of lesbian vampire women.” I was SOLD. Dear reader, it did not disappoint in the least. With badass Black and Indigenous women vampires navigating the world as it changes around them, while they never change.

Even if you’ve never read an extreme horror book in your life, you’ve likely heard of Hogg. This novel from Dhalgren author Samuel R. Delany opens with an explicit, incestuous encounter between a preteen boy — the narrator — and a pair of teenage siblings. The boy is later sold to Hogg, a trucker and rapist-for-hire, who introduces and subjects him to every possible facet of depravity — including coprophagia and necrophilia.

J.F. Gonzalez’s Survivor centers on Lisa, a newly pregnant woman whose kidnappers orchestrate her husband’s arrest to get her alone. Surrounded and without allies, Lisa soon realizes that she’s been taken to “star” in a snuff film — and must decide how far she’s willing to go to make it out alive. Survivor is unfortunately out of print today, but readers who love unsettling books will want to keep an eye out for used copies.

This brief, standalone short story follows Sam and Jenn, a pair of broke BFFs, as they embark on their latest money-making scheme. They’ve decided to start mukbang careers — making and selling live videos of themselves eating large quantities of food. When they come across a $400 video from someone calling themself “Mukbang Princess,” Jenn and Sam splurge on it in the name of market research. What lies beyond the paywall is more disturbing than anything they might have imagined, however.

An abusive husband desperate to keep his wife at his side seeks extreme plastic surgery to look like the object of her desires in this extreme horror novella. Meanwhile, his wife struggles to maintain her grip on reality as she confronts how far her life has veered off course. The couple slips closer and closer to the edge, until a shocking twist takes the story in an unexpected direction.

Combining extreme and found-footage horror, Eric LaRocca’s You’ve Lost a Lot of Blood weaves together two storylines — and storylines within those storylines — in true House of Leaves fashion. In one, a designer works on a video game that cannot be replayed and therefore may be impossible to quit. In another, a pair of life partners disappear following a string of murders — leaving behind evidence that points to an abusive relationship.

Next up is Chandler Morrison’s Dead Inside: an infamous horror comedy that clearly draws inspiration from Exquisite Corpse. Here, a necrophiliac security guard meets an OB/GYN that eats dead babies. Yes, you read that correctly. This is a massively screwed up romcom about two people with terrible appetites falling in love. If you’ve got a very dark sense of humor — or if you were just a teenage edgelord — give this one a read.

Publishers Weekly encouraged readers to skip this book if they “ha[d] even a tinge of faith in the goodness of man.” Obviously, it belongs on this list. The story here centers on Steven, a young man with a deeply troubled home life. After he takes a job at a local slaughterhouse and meets an equally troubled woman, Steven thinks his life is on the upswing. He’s in for a rude awakening, in Cows.

Andi wants nothing more than to be like the vultures surrounding her home. She longs to taste the rotting flesh they feed upon. Neither her therapist nor her girlfriend can dissuade her. Of course, Andi and her girlfriend haven’t been on the best of terms since Andi gave Luna a thoughtful gift — one Luna did not find so thoughtful. The truth is, Andi’s problems run deeper than she’s willing to admit. The vulture obsession could be the end…or only the beginning.

Jason has known agony from birth. A rare disease causes his brain to interpret every sensory input as pain. Cursed to spend his whole life in a sensory deprivation chamber, Jason believes he’s found a savior in Yogi Arjunda. The treatments work a little too well, however. Now, after 17 years spent in misery, Jason is free — and no one he meets will ever be the same.

Jake Livingston wants to be a boring high schooler more than anything, but the ghosts he sees won’t let him. Add that to the microaggressions he deals with as the only Black kid at St. Clair Prep school and secretly crushing on another boy and Jake’s life is the opposite of boring. Then, the ghost of a teenage school shooter targets and torments Jake to try to get his powers and what little control Jake has left is threatened to be taken away forever.

When Sydney Green’s neighborhood is threatened by the creeping gentrification of condos and demolition, she and her neighbor Theo launch a campaign to turn things around in the form of a walking tour of the area. Despite the history they’re so intent on saving, the neighborhood shrinks around them. They just might be the ones to go next.

After Pepper gets into a fight with three undercover policemen, he finds himself thrown in New Hyde Hospital’s psychiatric ward for a 72-hour hold. As he acclimates to his fellow patients and the staff members, a creature behind a silver door torments them at night. Convinced it’s the devil, Pepper rallies the other patients to fight the monster coming after them before its too late.

When the power goes out on the reservation in the winter, Evan Whitesky thinks he and his family will be alright. Together, the community tries to get by using the generator and community around them. But as gas and food dwindle, panic starts to set in. As others take refuge in their community with similar stories from elsewhere, they must turn to traditions to keep them alive.

Living at the Karloff Country resort, it’s easy for Jay to forget about the rest of the world. But when people at the resort start to disappear and the wealthy buy up their place to stay as the world around them deteriorates, Jay’s comfortable living flips on its head. Now, forced to wait on the wealthy who treat Jay horribly, he and his friends have to decide if leaving is worth facing whatever it is that’s out there in wait.

Hilton and his wife are happy, he running his drug rehab center and she the only Black judge in their county in Florida. When she starts getting racism-fueled death threats, Hilton’s dreams turn into nightmares and his grasp of reality grows weaker and weaker. Because his Nana saved him from drowning decades ago, Hilton becomes convinced death has come to take him for good.

The only thing that would bring Liz home to Johnstown, Pennsylvania is her best friend’s wedding. But when her best friend’s daughter, Caroline, goes missing at the wedding in the woods, Liz has flashbacks to her own time spend lost in the woods. Time that left someone dead. As she fights to find Caroline and figure out what’s happening in this town she once called home, one commonality in the missing girls emerges: they’re all Black.

Private investigator John Persons doesn’t think twice when a 10-year-old boy hires him to kill his abusive stepfather. As Pearsons looks into the case, though, it seems his target isn’t as human as he seems on the outside. And he’s infectious. Now Persons is up against an otherworldly monster before it unleashes something dark in him too.

When Anthony meets Emily in the library at his art school in Seattle, he’s immediately intrigued by her. His dreams after meeting her turn in the strange and bizarre world called Nightland as his obsession with her grows. Not even her claims that they’re both demons can deter his love for her.

After the government takes over Innsmouth and sends the People of the Water to camps in the desert, only Aphra Marsh and her brother Caleb survive. Years later, though, the government needs Aphra’s help to find the source of rumors that a Russian agent gained access to body-switching methods they could use to damage the United States. Aphra accepts the request if only to learn more about her family history and what they lost.

In the aftermath of a pandemic, the population is divided into those who survived and those who became zombies. As those uninfected fight to reclaim Manhattan from their safe space called Zone One, Mark Spitz and the other sweepers trying to clean out the city encounter a different kind of zombies stuck in the past and lingering in the places that were important to them once. As he works to make space for them to live again, he has to face a world with different rules and a different job for humanity.

Twelve contestants sign up for a reality TV show that will test their physical limits. With little information and a cash prize of $1 million, Zoo is among those who agrees to participate. Three weeks into filming, though, she stumbles on a body, but figures it’s all part of the psychological tests of the game. Then she finds more, and the world gets more and more uncertain as she realizes she might not have the safety of a crew and witnesses like she thought.

When street musician Charles “Tommy” Tester is roped into delivering a mysterious book to a woman, he jumps at the chance to make some extra money to take care of his dad. But the book makes him the target of two policemen, a plot to awaken a sleeping evil. While dealing with racism and police brutality, Tester is also plagued by an existential dread about capitalism and his place in the world.

Living on their isolated farm suits Junior and Hen just fine. But then a stranger arrives with a claim that the government has selected Junior to go to outer space. The stranger reassures them Hen will be taken care of, but neither of them are sure who to trust as things spiral out of control.

A screenwriter determined to write a sequel to his big-hit movie decides renting a house in the mountains is just the thing to beat his writer’s block. With his wife and their 4-year-old daughter, they enjoy the forest and the time away from their lives. But his solution doesn’t seem to be putting words on the page, and his family just might prove a bigger distraction than he can tolerate.

After one of the six avatars of New York is sent into a coma, the other five do their part fighting off the Enemy trying to take over the city. They’re all drawn to the sixth avatar whom they need to take up before their city crumbles. This homage to New York is full of love and purpose and the threat of losing it all.

After James’ gambling problems get the better of him, he and his wife Julie decide moving into a new place is just the ticket. But as strange blotches appear on the walls and bruises appear on their skin, they doubt moving was such a good idea. As they investigate, the house gets more and more confusing, with hidden spaces they hadn’t seen before.

Jessica thinks she has won the partner lottery with David. But her friends and family think something’s off with the way he asks her to quit her journalist job and stay at home with him. She doesn’t even think twice about the people that keep disappearing around them. When David reveals he’s half a century old and part of an immortal Ethiopian sect who are demanding he leaves Jessica and their kid behind, he’s caught between two worlds that can’t collide without spilling blood.

Pursued by a rival vampire clan, Alt flees to Mexico City where she crosses paths with 17-year-old Domingo living on the streets. As the pair warm to each other despite their differences, they navigate the streets of Mexico City where many different species of vampires roam, on the hunt for blood. But Alt can’t run forever, and Domingo will do everything he can to keep her safe.

When her sister goes missing, Aja seems to be the only one noticing the strange happenings around town. Then, she meets the alluring Padraic and is sure he’s the reason for the red rain and the white caterpillars and the disappearance of her sister. Agreeing to go with him is easy if it means saving her. But when he takes her to an old church where other vampires sit in wait, demanding service from the human teenagers they’ve lured there, Aja isn’t so sure they’ll make it back out of the church doors.

Shori wakes up in a cave injured, burned, and with no memory of what brought her there. After finding a hitchhiker and feeding off of his blood, she triggers a symbiotic relationship with him, as is the nature of The Ina, the society of vampires she’s now part of. As she acclimates, though, she still needs to figure out who tried to kill her and her family in the first place.

Yves Navarro and his wife are grieving the death of their son when Count Vladimir “Vlad” Radu solicits their help in finding somewhere to live. One night at Vlad’s newly bought home, Yves pays him a visit and loses consciousness. By the time he wakes, Yves is worried Vlad just may be after the rest of his family, too.

James Asher spent his life spying for Queen Victoria under the guise of being a linguist until he retired and settled down. One night, he comes home to find his family asleep and a visitor inside with a new mission James can’t refuse. Now James must find out who’s killing the vampires in town or lose his family and his life forever.

For the last 40 years, teenage vampire Joey Peacock has enjoyed his life routines sleeping in the subway tunnels with his clan and finding women to woo in the 1970s clubs above. But then he sees a group of undead children, a no no in their clan’s rules, and his normal life is threatened by what that could mean.

After a subway ride turns bloody, graffiti artist Rudy is left confused about his new life. Finding his newfound powers is intoxicating and Rudy wants to use them against everyone who has ever wronged him. But the people he’s targeting won’t go down without a fight.

After a plane lands, lights out, with only four people alive on board, Ephram at the CDC is assigned to investigate. While he argues for quarantining the surviving passengers, higher powers let one of them go and the seeming infection starts to spread to the rest of New York City. Now Ephram and his team have to find whatever’s spreading the illness before it gets the people he loves, too.

Dealing with bullying at school, 12-year-old Oskar is desperate for revenge. Then he meets Eli, a girl his age who he becomes fast friends with. Around them, though, bodies are found drained of their blood and Oskar’s new friend just might have a terrible secret.

Yes, this is one of the most famous scary movies. And yes, that joke about drenching a copy of this book and hiding it in someone’s closet/desk/car has been around almost as long as the internet. But have you read the book? Blatty based this novel on a case he heard about from the 1940s, in which a young girl was possessed by a demon and an exorcism was performed to try and help her. Blatty let his imagination run wild and turned it into one of the most upsetting tales of terror to cross bookshelves. Even if you think you know the story from the movie, read the book.

And this is the book I mentioned that is considered the first American Gothic novel published. It’s about the Wieland family, whose father spontaneously combusts in a temple he made in his yard, and then whose house and family seems to be cursed. If you love horror or literary history, you should definitely read it because it’s a classic. It does have scary, intense parts, but the reveal is very silly at the end. (Although it must have been terrifying for people in 1798, who didn’t understand how it worked back then.)

This is an essential collection of adult fairy tales that stay true to the original tellings of fairy tales before they were Disney-fied. Which means that horrible, scary things happen in them. Carter puts a smart, subversive spin on such classics as “Little Red Riding Hood”, “Puss in Boots”, and “Bluebeard”. This is the book your favorite authors read when they were little.

Due is one of the greatest horror writers of the last several decades, and she deserves a bigger audience. This is a haunted house story, about the Toussaint family in Oregon. Angela Toussaint inherits the family’s house, but shortly after moving in, her world is destroyed by the death of her son. Two years later, she decides to go back to the “Good House” to understand what happened, and uncovers a horrifying story of evil that goes back generations in her family.

And this is a slim classic about a woman who is coming unraveled. Relationships can be hell: Amanda has led a happy, satisfying life as an architect, but then things start going wrong. She doesn’t feel like herself; she starts smoking, getting aggressive and violent with her husband, and sleeping around. And then there’s the weird dreams she keeps having. Is the figure she sees in her dreams a real demon? And can she get rid of it before she loses herself completely? Seriously, all of Gran’s books should be added to your TBR right away.

Stephen Graham Jones is essential reading if you want to educate yourself in the best of 21st century horror. He recently published two amazing novels, My Heart Is a Chainsaw and its sequel Don’t Fear the Reaper, that are excellent dissections of the genre. But this is an earlier work that is an amazing take on the werewolf story, with the transformation tied into growing up and family trauma and inheritance. You’ll never look at nylon stockings the same.

And this is another example of a classic that is now known for its movie. It’s about Neville, who might be the last man on the planet who isn’t a vampire. He lives in seclusion, filled with abject loneliness, hiding from the vampires by night and hunting them by day. The book is different in many ways, and since it is possibly the greatest vampire novel of the 20th century (sorry, Anne Rice), you should definitely pick it up. Or any Matheson for that matter. He’s another writer who influenced many of your horror heroes. (Swan Song is also a masterpiece.)

You’ve probably heard about this story collection before, because we talk about it at Book Riot all the time. If you like your stories to be weird, smart, and upsetting, then pull up a chair and crack this one open. These are 11 interconnected tales of people doing seriously unusual and alarming things, involving love, murder, surgery, a bakery, and a macabre collection of implements.

And for the last pick, another classic whose movie adaptation has overshadowed it. We all know the movie The Ring, about teenagers, a videotape (which is now so dated, lol) and the creepy girl who crawls out of the television and bends herself in weird poses. But you should read the book, too, because it’s tons of scary fun. It’s a horror novel and a mystery, with a race to beat the clock as people struggle to figure out how to keep from dying after they watch the cursed videotape (without having to do the terrible things they are asked.) Can they cheat VHS death?

This graphic novel series is the first by Thai American editor Pornsak Pichetshote. Infidel is your typical haunted house story that follows a Muslim woman and her diverse array of neighbors who move into a building that starts exhibiting peculiar behavior. Soon they learn that the evil spirits in the house feed off of xenophobic thoughts.

A short story anthology, this bindup includes writings from 14 AAPI authors who express the horror of conformity, confronting traditional societal roles, and feeling like outsiders. While most of these stories have horror elements, some lean towards sci-fi or speculative fiction.

Korean American Kendare Blake has received acclaim in recent years for her Three Dark Crowns series, but her Anna duology is a seriously underrated gem. Our story follows Cas, a supernatural hunter who is out for revenge for his father’s untimely demise. He finds himself involved in the search for “Anna Dressed in Blood,” who is a ghost just as bloodthirsty. But she doesn’t kill Cas. And the locals want to know why.

Somtow is a Thai American composer, author, and filmmaker. His new take on the vampire genre is now considered a gothic classic. Vampire Junction tells the story of Timmy Valentine, a seemingly 11-year-old pop star who has become a heartthrob and idol for kids worldwide. However, his secret is that he is actually over 2,000 years old and a bloodthirsty vampire.

Japanese American Katsu is a master at historical retellings that naturally have a horrific twist. This reimagining of the infamous Donner Party tale is no exception. Since their trek west, the 90-person strong wagon train has only experienced tragedy after tragedy. As the party enters the mountains, they begin to suspect that there is something watching them, something waiting for them. But the suspicion brewing among the travelers might be the most dangerous.

All of the stories in McCarthy’s anthology revolve around humans and not-so-human humans addressing their darkness and taming (or not) their evil desires. Thai American McCarthy packs a ton of different stories in under 200 pages with various writing styles and narratives, but all focus on the stories of women and their various traumas.

Korean American Hur combines a historical event in her native Korea to tell this chilling story. Hwani and her sister, Maewol, once went missing and were later found unconscious in the forest. The event rocked their family, estranged the sisters, and left their father so desperate for answers that he returned to the forest himself. And disappears himself. To save their father, Hwani and Maewol will need to confront their past and unaddressed trauma.

Linghun is an original ghost story written by Chinese Canadian author Ai Jiang. Set in the town of “Home,” the occupants are all grief-ridden and constantly in mourning, making it a perfect place for the dead to find a second life. But as the undead can reconnect with their loved ones, we are exposed to the deep sadness plaguing the town. And just maybe, this ability to reconnect is not worth it in the end.

In Gam’s horror novella, the multiracial (Thai Lao Eastern European) author tells the story of Sammi Hayes, a Thai American from a complicated family. When her cousin is killed, and the perpetrator isn’t adequately brought to justice, Sammi takes it upon herself to ensure her cousin doesn’t die in vain.

In her debut novel, Korean American Kulski takes on historical fiction with a horror narrative. Set in 16th century Hungary, our heroine of sorts, Countless Erszébet is infamously known for her bloodthirsty nature and short temper. But her secret is that she isn’t carrying out these horrific acts alone, and the truth is even more terrifying than you think.

Sng’s horror poetry collection prey on peoples’ deepest fantasies and turn them evil, including creature features, the undead, and things that lurk in the shadows. Consisting of around 40 original poems, the title “A Collection of Nightmares” is a fitting title with a wide variety of horror subjects and apocalyptic visions.

This is a glamorous and gory (glorious? Is that word taken?) retelling of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, but like if Stoker wrote it after chugging Red Bull. There’s more action, more adventure, more locations, and more blood! More fang for your buck, amirite? And it includes splashy, flashy illustrations from Delgado, a Hollywood conceptual designer.

Let’s get a little literary gothic for the next pick. This is a feminist, queer twist to the legend of Victor Frankenstein. Mary is the doctor’s great-niece, and when she discovers his papers many years after his disappearance in the Arctic, she thinks she maybe have struck gold. But instead, the secrets contained within them just might cost her life.

What would you do if you don’t believe your baby is your own? Olivia knows that as a baby, her mother was troubled by delusions that Olivia was a changeling, a baby swapped by faeries in the night. Now Olivia is grown and is expecting a baby of her own, but she is getting sicker as the baby grows, and haunted by images of women in the bottom of a well. Dead women that almost claimed Olivia for themselves when she was small…

This is a brilliant and brutal collection of 12 stories about the exploitation and violence visited upon women and children in the harsh reality of the world. A couple debating breaking up becomes trapped in a maze; a woman is taken hostage after appearing for a job interview; a group of drowned surfers are worshipped by teens on the outskirts of society. These are wildly imaginative and seriously dark!

There isn’t a month of horror books that goes by where there isn’t at least one set in Maine. (It’s a scary place; I know because I live there!) This is a YA gothic romance about a nanny (because nannies and gothic go together like peanut butter and chocolate), who took the position after the death of her parents. The little kids Marin is watching over are creepy AF and want her gone, and there’s definitely something scary in the woods. Because Maine.

This is a debut collection of cosmic horror! Mohamed has invented new gods and called to the old ones, summoned beasts, monsters, and other horrifying creatures, and just generally supplied readers with a frightening time that is (sometimes literally) out of this world.

For stand-up comedians, “dying” on stage means you did a bad job, while “killing it” means you were a huge success. But for four comedians, those expressions are going to be literal when the ghosts of the past come back to haunt them at a New York City comedy club in the 1980s. Before people came for the laughs, it was the site of something evil. And it looks like evil might get the last laugh.

And in paperback releases, you can now get this campy, queer horror gem! It’s down to the final four contestants on the reality show The Catch. They are brought to a secluded island in the Pacific Northwest for the final episodes, where one will be crowned a winner. But Patricia lives on that island, too, and she’s lonely. She was the queen of the forest green before these fancy campers. And she’s going to show them just how a queen makes a scene.