Fantasy and Horror: A Critical and Historical Guide

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

About this list

Book, 722 Books

Fantasy and Horror: A Critical and Historical Guide to Literature, Illustration, Film, TV, Radio, and the Internet, edited by Richard Neil Barron, is an exceptionally comprehensive and well-researched exploration of the history of fantasy and horror literature. Barron, a renowned science fiction bibliographer and scholar, has curated a nearly 800-page volume featuring contributions from numerous experts and academics in the field. This book delves deeply into the evolution of both genres, offering rich discussions and insights into their development and key works.

The book's unique ranking system categorizes notable works of fantasy and horror literature using a variety of labels. These labels serve to highlight different aspects of each book's significance:

** (The Best of the Best)
* (The Best)
F (Best Fantasy)
H (Best Horror)
MF (Modern Fantasy)
EB (Selected by Everett F. Bleiler)
DH (Selected by David Hartwell)
FR (Selected by Franz Rottensteiner)
L1 (Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults)
L2 (Higher Ranked Fantasy Literature for Children and Young Adults)
To create a more organized understanding of the books listed, I assigned points based on these labels and devised a smart ranking system, giving each book a score according to its accumulated points. This method allowed for a clearer hierarchy, showcasing the most significant works in the genres.

I highly recommend this guide to anyone interested in a meticulously organized summary of fantasy and horror literature. It is an essential resource for those who wish to explore the depth of these genres and their history in greater detail.

How many contributors are there?
Counting the chapter authors and the three guest critics, you’re looking at roughly two-dozen named specialists. There’s no statement like “X hundred voters” anywhere, because the book never positioned itself as a popularity poll – it’s closer to an annotated canon chosen by experts

This list was originally published in 1999 and was added to this site over 1 year ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
5180 To Walk The Night William M. Sloane 1937 American English
2051 Tales Of Horror And The Supernatural Arthur Machen 1948 British English
5180 Xelucha And Others M. P. Shiel 1896 British English
5180 The Snow Image And Uncollected Tales Nathaniel Hawthorne 1852 American English
2096 Collected Short Stories of Saki Saki 1930 British English
2965 Collected Ghost Stories G. Oliver Onions 1935 British English
2472 Quatermass And The Pit Nigel Kneale 1959 British English
5180 The Smoking Leg John Metcalfe 1925 British English
866 The Black Spider Jeremias Gotthelf 1842 Swiss German
5180 German Romance Thomas Carlyle 1827 British English
3149 We Are For The Dark Robert Aickman 1951 British English
1945 The Second Century Of Creepy Stories Hugh Walpole 1937 British English
3086 The Travelling Grave L. P. Hartley 1948 British English
2932 The Supernatural Omnibus Montague Summers 1931 British English
3137 The Shrinking Man Richard Matheson 1956 American English
5180 Armadale Wilkie Collins 1866 British English
3462 Murgunstrumm And Others Hugh B. Cave 1977 American English
1070 The Lottery and Other Stories Shirley Jackson 1948 American English
5180 The Ghostly Tales Of Henry James Henry James 1898 American English
5180 The Lock And Key Library Julian Hawthorne 1909 American English
5180 Some Ghost Stories A. M. Burrage 1934 British English
5180 The Professor Challenger Stories Arthur Conan Doyle 1912 British English
1945 The Cadaver Of Gideon Wyck Alexander Laing 1934 American English
2932 Wandering Ghosts F. Marion Crawford 1911 American English
1812 Swan Song Robert R. McCammon 1987 American English
10834 A Century Of Ghost Stories Richard Sugg 2017 British English
5180 A Century Of Creepy Stories Hugh Walpole 1934 British English
7098 The Fantastic Imagination Robert H. Boyer 1977 Unknown English
155 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
5002 The Hungry Moon Ramsey Campbell 1986 British English
4094 Aegypt John Crowley 1987 American English
1245 The Jungle Book Rudyard Kipling 1894 British English
6288 Mark Twain's Which Was The Dream Mark Twain 1966 American English
3918 The Great Captains Henry Treece 1956 British English
5180 Collected Ghost Stories Mrs. Joseph H. Riddell 1882 British English
5563 The Golden Stranger Henry Treece 1956 British English
5230 Sorcerer's Son Phyllis Eisenstein 1979 American English
5180 The Lady, Or The Tiger? Frank R. Stockton 1882 American English
4059 A Feast Unknown Philip José Farmer 1969 American English
5180 The Lost Traveller Ruthven Todd 1943 British English
5180 Caravan For China Frank Stanley Stuart 1941 British English
448 The Magus John Fowles 1965 British English
3235 Sweet Dreams Michael Frayn 1973 British English
1945 Topper Takes A Trip Thorne Smith 1932 American English
5656 New Terrors Ramsey Campbell 1980 British English
5180 The Night Life Of The Gods Thorne Smith 1931 American English
5375 The Other Place And Other Stories J. B. Priestley 1953 British English
3899 Fontana Book Of Great Ghost Stories Robert Aickman 1964 British English
5647 Tea With The Black Dragon R. A. MacAvoy 1983 American English
4810 The Malacia Tapestry Brian Aldiss 1976 British English
2430 Nine Horrors And A Dream Joseph Payne Brennan 1958 American English
2815 The Damnation Game Clive Barker 1985 British English
5629 The Alteration Kingsley Amis 1976 British English
2146 The Green Man Kingsley Amis 1969 British English
1208 The Wasp Factory Iain Banks 1984 British English
6315 The Day Of Creation J. G. Ballard 1987 British English
3843 The Unlimited Dream Company J. G. Ballard 1979 British English
7909 Myths Of The Near Future J. G. Ballard 1982 British English
2253 The Crystal World J. G. Ballard 1966 British English
5761 The Digging Leviathan James P. Blaylock 1984 American English
626 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe 1604 British English
2080 The Sheep Look Up John Brunner 1972 British English
757 Dandelion Wine Ray Bradbury 1957 American English
3390 Cities of the Red Night William S. Burroughs 1981 American English
8617 Red Prophet Orson Scott Card 1988 American English
8747 Prentice Alvin Orson Scott Card 1989 American English
9881 Alvin Journeyman Orson Scott Card 1995 American English
10556 Heartfire Orson Scott Card 1998 American English
8496 Bones Of The Moon Jonathan Carroll 1987 American English
5180 Pause To Wonder Marjorie Fischer 1944 American Unknown
627 Nights At The Circus Angela Carter 1984 British English
2054 The Passion Of New Eve Angela Carter 1977 British English
3160 Red Moon and Black Mountain Joy Chant 1970 British English
2399 Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood Algernon Blackwood 1907 British English
3048 The Sinful Ones Fritz Leiber 1953 American English
5180 The Valley Of The Flame Henry Kuttner 1946 American English
5180 The Dark World Henry Kuttner 1946 American English
3462 Sweetheart, Sweetheart Bernard Taylor 1977 British English
511 Perfume Patrick Suskind 1985 German German
4605 Cold Heaven Brian Moore 1983 British English
3484 The Great Victorian Collection Brian Moore 1975 Canadian English
4988 The Pet Charles L. Grant 1986 American English
494 The Third Policeman Flann O'Brien 1967 Irish English
5180 A Man In The Zoo David Garnett 1924 British English
7620 The Drawing Of The Dark Tim Powers 1979 American English
1624 The Colour of Magic Terry Pratchett 1983 British English
6747 The Light Fantastic Terry Pratchett 1986 British English
4740 The Glamour Christopher Priest 1984 British English
3544 The Wolfen Whitley Strieber 1978 American English
5180 The Eternal Moment E. M. Forster 1928 British English
440 The Crying of Lot 49 Thomas Pynchon 1966 American English
5646 The Mezentian Gate E. R. Eddison 1958 British English
5317 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
4701 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
5180 A Fish Dinner In Memison E. R. Eddison 1941 British English
8747 Tourists Lisa Goldstein 1989 American English
5317 A Storm Of Wings M. John Harrison 1980 British English
5180 The Marquis De Bolibar Leo Perutz 1920 Austrian German
8496 Expecting Someone Taller Tom Holt 1987 British English
5180 From Nine To Nine Leo Perutz 1918 Austrian German
5180 The Bell In The Fog Gertrude Atherton 1905 American English
6526 Deliver Me From Eva Paul Bailey 2007 British Unknown
963 Zuleika Dobson Max Beerbohm 1911 British English
6789 Getting Into Death Thomas M. Disch 1973 American English
4938 Fata Morgana William Kotzwinkle 1977 American English
5180 Tales Of The Alhambra Washington Irving 1832 American English
2932 Tales Of A Traveller Washington Irving 1824 American English
8617 The Knight And Knave Of Swords Fritz Leiber 1988 American English
772 The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym Edgar Allan Poe 1838 American English
7 Moby-Dick Herman Melville 1851 American English
1526 The Confidence Man Herman Melville 1857 American English
3301 The Amber Witch Wilhelm Meinhold 1838 German German
4988 A Nest Of Nightmares Lisa Tuttle 1986 American English
5180 A Strange Story Edward Bulwer-Lytton 1862 British English
3203 Briefing For A Descent Into Hell Doris May Lessing 1971 British English
2932 Visible And Invisible E. F. Benson 1923 British English
5218 The Green Face Gustav Meyrink 1916 German German
2143 The Track Of The Cat Walter Van Tilburg Clark 1949 American English
4395 Ariosto Chelsa quinn yarbro 1972 American Unknown
5253 The Exploits Of Engelbrecht Maurice Richardson 1950 British English