Horror Writer Association's Top 40 Horror Books of All Time

This is one of the 743 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

Horror Writer Association, 40 Books

Here is the description of this list from the Horror Writer Association

The HORROR WRITERS ASSOCIATION was formed, in part, to foster a greater appreciation of dark fiction among members of the general public. Whether you are new to Horror, or simply want to become familiar with some of the classics and “bests” of dark fiction, the following books are a wonderful place to begin.

Like most “best of” lists, ours is somewhat quirky. The books that appear here were picked using a survey of HWA’s general membership in 1996, so many excellent books published more recently do not appear here, and some of those that do are now out of print. Most of the recognized classics of dark fiction do appear here, though.

This list was originally published in 1996 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
2399 Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
1407 The Exorcist William Peter Blatty 1971 American English
1336 Something Wicked This Way Comes Ray Bradbury 1962 American English
2728 Lost Souls Poppy Z. Brite 1992 American English
5002 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
17008 The Between Tananarive Due 1995 American English
2947 The Dark Country Dennis Etchison 1981 American English
17008 Raven Charles L. Grant 1993 American English
14165 Dead In The Water Nancy Holder 1994 American English
215 The Haunting of Hill House Shirley Jackson 1959 American English
1070 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
188 The Turn of the Screw Henry James 1898 American English
7940 The Collected Ghost Stories Of M. R. James M. R. James 1931 British English
17008 Dr. Adder K. W. Jeter 1984 American English
66 The Metamorphosis Franz Kafka 1915 Czech German
2691 Pet Sematary Stephen King 1983 American English
398 The Shining Stephen King 1977 American English
276 The Stand Stephen King 1978 American English
10480 Skin Kathe Koja 1993 American English
17008 Dark Dance Tanith Lee 1992 British English
1194 Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943 American English
902 Rosemary's Baby Ira Levin 1967 American English
4943 Songs Of A Dead Dreamer And Grimscribe Thomas Ligotti 1985 American English
17008 Lovers Living, Lovers Dead Richard Lortz 1977 Unknown English
9094 The Dunwich Horror And Others H. P. Lovecraft 1963 American English
710 At the Mountains of Madness H. P. Lovecraft 1936 American English
2464 The Hill Of Dreams Arthur Machen 1907 British English
2051 Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural Arthur Machen 1948 British English
17008 Sineater Elizabeth Massie 1992 American English
776 I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954 American English
6715 The Relic Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child 1995 American English
39 Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818 British English
14901 Book Of The Dead John Skipp , Craig Spector 1989 Multiple English
17008 Ghoul Michael Slade 1987 Canadian English
17008 Vampire Junction S.P. Somtow 1984 American English
217 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Robert Louis Stevenson 1886 British English
53 Dracula Bram Stoker 1897 British English
5270 Some Of Your Blood Theodore Sturgeon 1961 American English
17008 Phantom Thomas Tessier 1982 American English
17008 Sacrifice Andrew Vachss 1991 American English