HWA's Horror Reading List

The Horror Writers Association was formed, in part, to foster a greater appreciation of dark fiction among members of the general public.

In 1996 they compiled a recommended reading list. Bear in mind that since the books that appear here were picked using a survey of HWA's general membership in 1996, many excellent books published more recently do not appear here, and some of those that do are now out of print.

Note: This list is arranged alphabetically by author's last name. No ranking is implied.

• Best Ghost Stories of Algernon Blackwood
• The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
• Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite
• The Hungry Moon by Ramsey Campbell
• The Between by Tananarive Due
• Darklands by Dennis Etchison
• Raven by Charles L Grant
• Dead in the Water by Nancy Holder
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
• The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson
• Turn of the Screw by Henry James
• The Ghost Stories of M.R. James
• Dr. Adder by K.W. Jeter
• The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
• Pet Semetary by Stephen King
• The Shining by Stephen King
• The Stand by Stephen King
• Skin by Kathe Koja
• Dark Dance by Tanith Lee
• Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber
• Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
• Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti
• Lovers Living, Lovers Dead by Richard Lortz
• The Dunwich Horror and Others by H.P. Lovecraft
• At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft
• The Hill of Dreams by Arthur Machen
• Tales of Horror and the Supernatural by Arthur Machen
• Sineater by Elizabeth Massie
• I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
• Relic by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
• Book of the Dead edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector
• Ghoul by Michael Slade
• Vampire Junction by S.P. Somtow
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• Some of Your Blood by Theodore Sturgeon
• Phantom by Thomas Tessier
• Sacrifice by Andrew Vachss