A few days back, Bloodshoot Books‘ publisher Pete Kahle wrote a post on Facebook where he challenged himself to list his favorite horror books that aren’t by Stephen King or Dean Koontz.

King and Koontz get so much attention (and money) and there are a lot of great, under appreciated books out there.

Pete’s list is below. I haven’t read even close to half of the books on his list but when I have and there’s a book by an author I like more than Pete’s suggestion I add it in parentheses.

Also, because this is such a male-dominated industry, I’ve made the female authors bold and I challenge you to buy a book by a woman from this list.

Pete himself says in a comment under the list:

“I wish I had more female horror authors listed, but as I went through the list I realized that I had only read one or two novels by each one. Something to remedy in 2018“

The first 33 are Pete’s original list, my extras are below. Please add your suggestions in the comments and I’ll update the list.

Books I’d add:

34. Michael McDowell – The Elementals

35. John Langan – The Fisherman (one of my all-time favorite horror books)

36. Shirley Jackson – The Haunting of Hill House

37. Richard Matheson – I am Legend

38. Kristi DeMeester – Beneath

39. Justin Cronin – The Passage

40. Mark Z. Danielewski – House of Leaves (Will not work as a Kindle book, trust me)

41. Jeff VanderMeer – Finch

42. Josh Malerman – Bird Box



Now it’s your turn; what have your read and what’s missing from the list?