Best Horror Fiction of 2025

Here is my yearly list of the best horror fiction, all released in 2025. This is a tough collection since it’s always hard to locate just recently published books since horror often relies on word-of-mouth, reader generated content or a small network of blogs, tiktok accounts and journals, which means 2025 is bound to spill into 2026. I have added a section for short horror fiction as well, something I have not actually tried before and one I will continue to as I spend more time with horror anthologies as they are released and horror journals (of which I discuss and recommend a couple below). You will see a notable absence of graphic fiction this year, that’s a fluke and next year I will be back at the comics shop in earnest.

These are in no particular order, and I expect there will be some expected ones on here and a few shocks as well!

Old Soul by Susan Barker While this was a book I waited until the end of the year to read, it’s one that I’ll carry with me long into the New Year. The book begins with a chance meeting between two people and a conversation that reveals similar tragedies, each seemingly tied to a shared strange figure who briefly emerged to photograph their loved one before disappearing into the mist. That meeting sends one of them on a global journey to speak with others who have had the same encounter, each watching a friend, relative, or lover descend into an enraptured madness made visible by their bodies reversing their features. The book slowly unravels as a story about loneliness and survival and asks what the meaning of life is if it depends on the death of others. It’s hauntingly written by Susan Barker, who I encountered just a couple of weeks before starting Old Soul by reading her story “Fight, Flight, Freeze” in the 2024 British horror anthology Of the Flesh.

A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper Given that we are in the middle of a winning streak for New Queer Horror, it wasn’t surprising to put Hailey Piper on this list again. She has been a constant feature of genre-pushing fear fiction since I first read Queen of Teeth several years back, but A Game in Yellow is my favorite work of her career so far. The book centers on a relationship held together by S&M, a series of games that paper over the primary character’s disaffection, and it uses Robert Chambers’ The King in Yellow as a structural starting point for watching the characters teeter toward insanity and self-destruction. It is the cosmic elements that hold together what is otherwise a deeply intimate story of two people, and at times three, and the question of whether they can sustain love despite the odds.

Atlas of Unknowable Things by McCormick Templeman There is something almost academic about the construction of Atlas of Unknowable Things, which is equal parts a lesson in the history of herbs and myths and a slowly unfolding folk-horror story set in the Rocky Mountains at a college so small it could only exist in fiction. The structure reflects the academic background of its author, McCormick Templeman, and enhances a tight plot that reveals only fragments of its characters and the significance of events just beyond view. The novel is a true page-turner with uncommon depth, frightening pacing, and historical reference points made possible by Templeman’s commitment to being both novelist and dramaturge.

Moonflow by Bitter Karella Moonflow was maybe the most fun I had all year and one of the best examples of the recent surge in trans horror novels. This is Karella’s first full-length novel, and she nails the pacing as she follows a psychedelic mushroom retailer sent to find a rare species. Instead, she discovers a TERF-y green goddess cult run by a woman breastfeeding raccoons, all within the first hundred pages. The novel’s pulpy energy is balanced by folk-horror themes that explore threats both inside and outside society.

Black Flame by Gretchen Felker-Martin Felker-Martin remains true to form in this brutal and surreal queer horror exposé of fascism. The novel follows a deeply closeted film archivist who uncovers a lost Nazi occult propaganda film with a sympathetic audience. It is also an uncommonly Jewish horror novel, turning its accusatory gaze toward Zionism during the genocide in Gaza while tracing Jewish historical memory and generational trauma. Though occasionally heavy on imagery and lighter on plot momentum, it fits comfortably within Felker-Martin’s body of work and speaks directly to the present moment.

The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig I’ve considered a long Chuck Wendig horror novel a dependable read since The Book of Accidents, and this one delivers. The Staircase in the Woods introduces a major twist about a hundred pages in that reshapes everything that follows. The book is a carefully constructed meditation on trauma and its effects on relationships, building a metaphor-rich world that reinvents itself just before it risks overstaying its welcome. Wendig’s command of classic fantasy-horror storytelling is so assured that a television adaptation feels inevitable.

rekt by Alex Gonzalez rekt has been hailed as an unflinching and true-to-life internet horror novel for 2025, and perhaps its accuracy is reflected in how unsurprising much of it feels. The book follows a college student grieving his girlfriend’s death who develops an addiction to graphic web videos. From there it spirals into a strange counter-world of AI-generated footage, targeted assassinations, cryptocurrency schemes, and modern alienation. While some elements stretch plausibility, the novel remains compelling and perceptive about the double bind of using internet horror to escape real-world despair.

At Dark, I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca If LaRocca writes it, I’ll recommend it. This is his most ambitious and abrasive work, one that avoids collapse and instead remains emotionally vulnerable and true to the Barker-inspired horror tradition he is rebuilding. Beginning with a man who allows himself to be buried alive for money as a way of processing grief, the novel fractures into brutal interlocking narratives. Its formal instability is part of its appeal, making this both a divisive book and a powerful example of what contemporary horror can achieve.

Dybbuk in the Doorway by John Baltisberger A rare and recent Jewish horror gem, Dybbuk in the Doorway revives a classic demon of Jewish folklore while avoiding many modern missteps. It follows an off-the-derekh software developer drawn home by the death of an estranged brother. Baltisberger balances authentic dybbuk lore with a nuanced portrayal of tensions between secular and Hasidic Jewish life, allowing tradition to exist in full dimensionality rather than caricature.

Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield An increasingly strange debut, Beta Vulgaris begins with anxiety and relational collapse before pushing its protagonist into a disastrous season working at a beet farm. The novel becomes a precise metaphor for the mental and financial precarity of millennials and Gen Z, capturing systemic instability with unsettling clarity.

Yearly Inclusion As always, The Year’s Best Horror, Volume Seventeen, edited by Ellen Datlow, remains one of the strongest releases of the year, with standout stories including works by Douglas Ford, Premee Mohamed, Mark Falkin, Lee Murray, and David Nickle.

Honorable Mentions

• Galloway’s Gospel by Sam Rieben
• The Poorly Made and Other Things by Sam Rieben
• The October Film Haunt by Michael Wehunt
• Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions by John Langan
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter - Stephen Graham Jones
• The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre - Philip Fracassi

The two most frequently recommended books this year were When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones. As I’ve written elsewhere, Jones’s book didn’t land as strongly for me as it has for others, likely due to its historical setting and my own personal preferences. Cassidy, on the other hand, didn’t resonate with me as much as some of his earlier work, particularly Mary, which I consider far superior. It lacked originality, I did not enjoy the underlying monster logic as most readers did, and I felt like there were shoehorned characters that operated as little more than plot mechanics. I did enjoy the book overall, just not enough to include it on any of these lists.

Best Short Stories

“We Didn’t Use to Be Like This,” Weird Horror Fall 2025, Jack Klausner A surreal meditation on personal change as a father discovers photographs of his family he does not remember taking.

“Door to Damnation,” Chthonic Matter Quarterly Winter 2025, Lara Messersmith-Glavin A poetic and playful horror piece centered on a dark presence within a newly purchased home.

“Jackknift,” Amazon Originals: Shivers Collection, Joe Hill A familiar and effective Hill story in which pulling a knife from a tree unleashes a malevolent force seeking justice.

“The Blanks,” Amazon Originals: Shivers Collection, Grady Hendrix On a wealthy northeastern island, ignoring suffering becomes the price of maintaining the illusion of paradise.

“Secret Night,” Nathan Ballingrud, Day/Night, ed. Ellen Datlow A state trooper’s search for accident victims turns into a disorienting descent through memory, identity, and unseen presences.

“The Poor,” Chthonic Matter Quarterly Winter 2025, Jeremy Schliewe Teens visit an isolated desert pool and discover they were never as alone as they believed.

“The Body Is Horror,” Chthonic Matter Quarterly Winter 2025, Ode Hennesey A strange and incisive story about medical indifference to pain and the arcane uses imposed on suffering.

“Evergreen,” John K. Peck and L. Mahler, Split Scream Volume Seven: Off the Map

“The Tower: Stained Glass,” Mo Mashaty, Clairviolence: Tales of Tarot and Torment

Reprints Published Again in 2025

“The Boy in the Closet,” Douglas Ford, The Year’s Best Horror Volume Seventeen, ed. Ellen Datlow A teacher dismisses a student’s ghost story until he repeats the same cruelty that birthed the original haunting.

“The Night Birds,” Premee Mohamed, The Year’s Best Horror Volume Seventeen, ed. Ellen Datlow A foster parent attempts to save a child from a world of abuse and Lovecraftian terror.

“Natalya, Queen of the Dogs,” John Langan, Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions An epic and devastating story about loss and the empire of suffering left in its wake.

Among the outlets for short horror fiction this year, the new publication Chthonic Matter Quarterly stands out as the most exciting. Two stories in The Year’s Best Horror Volume Seventeen originally appeared there in 2024, a remarkable achievement for such a new publication. Its black-and-white design enhances the weird fiction it publishes, making it well worth both reading and subscribing to. Other strong venues remain, including Weird Horror from Undertow Publications, which has been open about its financial struggles. Supporting publications like these is essential if we want them to survive.

Older Mentions

There were a few books from 2024 that I did not get to but are worth mentioning. First is Of the Flesh, an unsigned British horror anthology with no listed editor, whose paperback was not released until 2025. It is a solid, unthemed collection with especially strong entries, including “Fight, Flight, Freeze” by Susan Barker, “The Fruiting Body” by Bridget Collins, and “Daisies” by Mariana Enriquez, who has been on a roll lately and is deftly translated here by Megan McDowell. That final story leans against the edge of the genre, which makes it a smart inclusion even if it may cause some horror purists to hesitate.

Second is The Skin You’re In, a wonderful collection of short black-and-white horror comics by Ashley Robin Franklin, whose delightfully sardonic and queer approach to graphic horror is something I fully intend to follow closely.

This would have made my “best of” list had it been a 2024 release, but Model Home by Rivers Solomon instead arrived later. The novel presents itself as a queer haunted house story before deepening into a far more incisive examination of the racial foundations of largely white suburban communities and the rage embedded within them.

Last is the brilliantly disorienting Coup de Grâce, a novella by Sofia Ajram often compared to House of Leaves for its shifting architecture, though it stands firmly on its own as an empathetic and chaotic exploration of a character’s internal implosion made external.

This was also a year when I revisited widely recommended horror classics and greatly enjoyed reading Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin, The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, Penpal by Dathan Auerbach, and Come Closer by Sarah Gran, all of which I consider essential reading for horror fans.

For readers looking for more international work or for those especially drawn to cosmic horror, some of my strongest recommendations come from Valancourt Books, a press best known for republishing lost horror classics. Two collections I read this year stood out: Swedish Cults by Swedish author Anders Fager and The Black Maybe by Hungarian author Attila Veres. Both offer deeply Lovecraftian, even mythos-adjacent stories that genuinely stun, and surpass nearly everything I have read from the American Cthulhu industry in recent years.

And just to be bitchy, I’m including my worst horror book of the year: The Cut by C.J. Dotson, an excruciatingly childish monster novel set against a poorly handled backdrop of domestic violence. The book starts off competently enough before devolving into weak prose, bizarre characterization, and a plot that is both clichéd and lackluster when compared to the many horror novels that tread similar, well-worn narrative paths with far more skill. I actually think Dotson is a capable author, both technically and creatively, and I hope she attempts something more inventive in the future, with a publisher willing to allow that freedom. If I had to guess, this was positioned as a major debut and likely came with limited creative latitude rather than too much.