A Miscellany of Horror: 7 Horror Anthologies to Dip Into
Full of bite-sized horror stories, horror anthologies are made to savor, not to swig.
Here are 7 horror anthologies you don’t want to miss.
Don’t feel you have to read them all at once or even in order, although you can if that’s how you roll.
Start with a helping of Southern extreme horror.
Find out how letters and documents fuel the fear.
Slip into some supernatural horror and some stories that twist the usual horror tropes in ways you won’t expect.
Discover some unique perspectives on what’s really going on below.
Help some charities by lurking in the dark.
And enjoy a cartload of horrific tricks and treats that celebrate the time of year that horror fans love so much: Halloween.
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Table of Contents
Y’All Ain’t Right (2024)
Southern extreme horror
An anthology of Southern Extreme Horror stories featuring 17 of the best extreme horror authors in the genre.
From gator infested swamps to the overgrown backwoods, be careful how far you venture off the main road.
And if you hear banjos… well, you better paddle faster!
Featuring stories by: Kasey Lansdale & Joe R. Lansdale, Edward Lee, Jeff Strand, Wrath James White, Kristopher Triana, Kristopher Rufty, Ryan Harding, Christine Morgan, Daniel J. Volpe, Bridgett Nelson, Gregory Norris, Candace Nola, Eric Butler, Douglas Ford, Lucas Milliron, and Patrick R. McDonough.
“There ain’t nothin’ wrong with words, in a reasonable quantity.”
Dead Letters (2023)
Epistolary horror
A video game walkthrough harbors sinister secrets. A grieving sister’s letters blur the line between alive and dead (and alive again). A chain of frightening emails is the only evidence that a young woman ever walked the earth. And a series of journals pursue a dwindling wagon train marching into Hell – or someplace worse.
Haunting podcast transcripts. Blood-soaked police reports. Bewildering court findings. Brace yourself for an anthology that resurrects the chilling power of epistolary fiction – where ordinary documents transform into vessels of absolute terror.
Spanning 21 original tales blending the classic gothic horror of Stoker’s Dracula with the contemporary dread of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca, Dead Letters contains both short sharp shocks and prolonged sojourns into the macabre and promises to haunt your sleepless nights.
Featuring thrilling contributions from Gemma Files, Ai Jiang, Gordon B. White, J.A.W. McCarthy, and Red Lagoe, and curated with precision by Jacob Steven Mohr (The Unwelcome and Nightfall and Other Dangers).
“I am not the kind of woman prone to flights of fancy, and it is because of that I hesitated to write this letter.”
Out There Screaming (2023)
Supernatural horror
A cop begins seeing huge, blinking eyes in place of the headlights of cars that tell him who to pull over. Two freedom riders take a bus that leaves them stranded on a lonely road in Alabama where several unsettling somethings await them. A young girl dives into the watery depths in search of the demon that killed her parents. Here you’ll find monster-hunters fighting monsters, humanoid AIs fighting for their rights, and a young Igbo woman fighting Ajofia na Nnewi.
These are just a few of the worlds of Out There Screaming, Jordan Peele’s anthology of all-new horror stories by Black writers.
Featuring stories by: Erin E. Adams, Violet Allen, Lesley Nneka Arimah, Maurice Broaddus, Chesya Burke, P. Djèlí Clark, Ezra Claytan Daniels, Tananarive Due, Nalo Hopkinson, N. K. Jemisin, Justin C. Key, L. D. Lewis, Nnedi Okorafor, Tochi Onyebuchi, Rebecca Roanhorse, Nicole D. Sconiers, Rion Amilcar Scott, Terence Taylor, and Cadwell Turnbull.
“Carl started seeing the eyes a few months back.”
This Fresh Hell (2023)
Twisted trope horror
A driver picks up a hitchhiker from the side of a road; a restorer develops an unusual bond with a cursed doll; a visit to the cabin in the woods goes terribly wrong…
A Slender Man offers help to a boy in trouble; a haunted house is reluctant to terrify its new residents; a heartbroken influencer is challenged on a luxury cruise from hell.
We all know how these stories end – or do we?
In This Fresh Hell, every story begins with a well-known horror trope but ends with a twist, bringing new life and unexpected resolutions to old ideas. Fears are interrogated, ghosts re-examined, and monsters reconfigured.
From chilling to quirky, these stories will appeal to dedicated horror fans and those dipping into the genre for the first time.
Writers from around the world reignite and subvert horror tropes in 19 genre-bending stories: Eugen Bacon, Elle Beaumont, Katya de Becerra, Jason Franks, Raymond Gates, Narrelle M. Harris, Sarah Glenn Marsh, Greg Herren, Claire Low, Annie McCann, Chuck McKenzie, L.J.M. Owen, Gillian Polack, Tansy Rayner-Roberts, Clare E. Rhoden, Candace Robinson, Sarah Robinson-Hatch, Claire L. Smith, C. Vonzale Lewis, and A.J. Vrana.
“James hurriedly turned back, to find the Dark Man had silently closed the gap between them.”
Visions of Hell (2023)
Hell horror
Visions of Hell. Nine creators. Nine unique visions. Come with us as we descend one circle at a time and discover just what’s going on below.
Featuring stories by: C.J. Taylor, Michael Hanson, Christopher Felton, Veronica Smith, Frederick Pangbourne, C.S. Dines, Ray Prew, Ryder Sullivan, and Claire Davon.
“What are YOUR beliefs regarding heaven and hell?”
Blood Bank (2022)
Charity horror
Explore the human condition and the dread of losing loved ones. Walk occult paths and knock on cosmic doors. Run from monsters, both human and supernatural. And do it all while helping two great charities.
A portion of the proceeds from every copy of Blood Bank will be donated to Read Better Be Better and Hagar’s House, quarterly, over the five years.
Blood Bank features stories from Livia Llewellyn, Neil Gaiman, Jo Kaplan, Kristopher Triana, Kealan Patrick Burke, Mona Kabbani, Max Booth III, Joseph Sale, Jay Wilburn, Jeremy Robert Johnson, Rena Mason, Lucy Leitner, Patrick Freivald, and Jeff Strand.
“Charlene woke in the middle of the night to the sound of manic laughter.”
October Screams (2023)
Halloween horror
Twenty-seven tales of the greatest holiday of all, Halloween!
Featuring stories from authors like Brian Keene & Richard Chizmar, Jeremy Bates, Kealan Patrick Burke, Clay McLeod Chapman, Philip Fracassi, Todd Keisling, Gwendolyn Kiste, Red Lagoe, Ronald Malfi, Bridgett Nelson, Rebecca Rowland, Steve Rasnic Tem, TJ Cimfel, Cassandra Daucus, Ryan Van Ells, Patrick Flanagan, Brennan Fredricks, Larry Hinkle, Larry Hodges, Kevin Kangas, Evans Light, Gregory L. Norris, Frank Oreto, Robert Stahl, Cat Voleur and Jacqueline West.
Terrifying, fun, creepy and poignant, this volume contains stories for every craving! This is one book that will deliver all the tricks-and-treats that you’d want in celebration of All Hallows Eve!
“I had never tasted anything like it in my entire life.”
Published: 27 February 2024
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