Books like 'Best New Horror 15'
Readers who enjoyed Best New Horror 15 by Stephen Jones, Ramsey Campbell, Michael Marshall Smith, John Farris, Gene Wolfe, Scott Emerson Bull, Steve Rasnic Tem, Gemma Files, Mark Samuels, Caitlín R. Kiernan, C.C. Finlay, Christopher Barzac, Steve Nagy, Joyce Carol Oates, Glen Hirshberg, Neil Gaiman, Paul McAuley, Mike O'Driscoll, Simon Clark, Tim Lebbon, Michael Chislett, Marc Laidlaw, Pauline E. Dungate, Dale Bailey, Christopher Fowler, Susan Davis & Jay Lake also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
fantasy horror dark fantasy crime apocalyptic dark
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Quicksand House by Carlton Mellick III, Hugo Camacho
Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsFrom master of bizarro fiction Carlton Mellick III, author of the international cult hits "Satan Burger" and "Adolf in Wonderland," comes a dystopian nightmare of epic proportions. "You must never leave the nursery. If you leave, you will certainly die."Tick and Polly have never met their parents before... -
Wagga by Alex Kozlowski
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the apocalypse, the first weapon he’ll have to upgrade is himself.The end of the world as we know it couldn’t come at a worse time for Adrian.One minute, he’s an operations manager who’s overseeing a construction job in the wilderness. The next, an unknown energy force changes the very nature of life itself, from the smallest organism to the top of the food chain...Categorized as:
apocalyptic dark fantasy litrpg progression-fantasy audiobook action-adventure post-apocalyptic -
Stay of Execution by Glynn Stewart
Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Vampire War is over. The United States is reeling. The Masquerade is fragmenting. The Apocalypse is here… The long and bloody war with the vampires in the United States has finally ended, thanks to the efforts of the vampire Arbiter and ONSET Commander David White—and a nuclear explosion on American soil... -
Priest of Lies by Peter McLean
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsTomas Piety has been many things: soldier, priest, gangster...and spy. As Tomas's power grows, the nobility better watch their backs, in this dark and gritty epic fantasy series.People are weak, and the poorer and more oppressed they are, the weaker they become--until they can't take it anymore. And when they rise up...may the gods help their oppressors... -
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Priest of Gallows by Peter McLean
Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGangster, soldier, priest. Queen's Man. Governor.Tomas Piety has everything he ever wanted. In public he's a wealthy, highly respected businessman, happily married to a beautiful woman and Governor of his home city of Ellinburg. In private, he's no longer a gang lord but one of the Queen's Men, invisible and officially non-existent, working in secret to protect his country... -
Vigor Mortis: Volume 1 by Natalie Maher
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCasting necromancy without ever learning how isn't supposed to be possible. A starving orphan girl named Vita is somehow managing it anyway, and she's not sure if this is going to be the solution to her life's problems or a horrifying, spiraling mess into problems she can't even conceive... -
Child of the Night Guild by Andy Peloquin
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThey killed her family. They ripped apart her home. But to repay her debts, she'll have to sacrifice her innocence. Robbed of everything she loves, Viola mourns the sudden loss of her mother. Now burdened with an impossible debt to the Night Guild, she’s forced to train as a cunning thief... -
A Drink Before We Die by Daniel Polansky
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsA thrilling introduction to the world of the widely acclaimed Low Town trilogy.Rigus is the greatest city in the Thirteen Lands, a glittering metropolis of towering citadels and sumptuous manors, where bored nobles settle affairs of honor with cold steel, and sorcerers craft enchantments of wonder and majesty... -
Fire Season by Stephen Blackmoore
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe fourth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.Los Angeles is burning.During one of the hottest summers the city has ever seen, someone is murdering mages with fires that burn when they shouldn't, that don't stop when they should... -
What the Hell Did I Just Read by David Wong, Jason Pargin
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNYT bestselling author Wong takes readers to a whole new level with his latest dark comic sci-fi thriller, set in the world of John Dies at the End and This Book is Full of SpidersDave, John and Amy recount what seems like a fairly straightforward tale of a shape-shifting creature from another dimension that is stealing children and brainwashing their parents, but it eventually becomes clear... -
The Witch is Dead by Geneva Monroe
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 10 ratings“Kindness always was the cruelest form of betrayal.” I said that once. I just didn’t know how brutally accurate I was. In the underworld of Oz, there are two people you don’t cross. I killed one, and now The Wizard demands I take out the other. Murder isn’t in my nature, but survival is.Aunt Em stole my fortune and put a bounty on my head to ensure she keeps it... -
The Sea Was a Fair Master by Calvin Demmer, Gwendolyn Kiste
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe world’s fate lies with a comatose young girl; an android wants to remember a human she once knew under Martian skies; men at sea learn that the ocean is a realm far different from land, where an unforgiving god rules; a school security guard discovers extreme English class; and a man understands what the behemoth beneath the sea commands of him... -
The Sundering by Gav Thorpe
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsMalekith, betrayer and usurper, architect of the great war that will forever divide the race of elves. Alith Anar, wrathful avenger whose spirit will forever haunt the traitorous druchii. Caledor, reluctant leader, the one elf who can hold back the darkness and restore peace to Ulthuan. Witch King, Shadow King and Phoenix King. Their deeds are legend. This is their story... -
Shrouds of Darkness by Brock E. Deskins
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsBrooklyn is home to thousands of drug dealers, murderers, rapists, thieves, gang bangers, and mafia. There are also some really unpleasant people--like me. My name is Leo Malone, and I'm a vampire. I've lived in Brooklyn for nearly a century, and I've grown to like the place. I used to be a Sheriff; the law enforcement within the vampire enclave... -
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Threads of Malice by Tamara Siler Jones, Tambo Jones
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn this relentlessly gripping thriller, Compton Crook Award winner Tamara Siler Jones weaves together her unique blend of fantasy, forensics, and suspense to create a world terrorized by a killer out of our darkest nightmares. Now one man must follow a trail of savaged victims to save an innocent life hanging by the slimmest of hopes... -
Fool's Ride by John L. Monk
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDan Jenkins is back, body hopping a scumbag at a time in his quest for the perfect ride. He doesn’t need much. Premium cable TV, good books, a well-stocked pantry, and he's set. But the Great Whomever has other plans.After six months waiting in limbo, Dan catches a ride as a horror novelist whose gruesome stories aren’t just fiction. Later, he hunts a man who’s escaped justice for far too long... -
Valley of the Soul by Tamara Siler Jones, Tambo Jones
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn the mage wars, Dubric Byerly risked his life–and sacrificed the woman he loved–to catch magic’s darkest killers. Those battles are long over–and the monsters Dubric hunts these days are nothing more than men. Until now. A recent string of grisly crimes has Dubric and his pages scouring the countryside for clues that hint at the worst: that history’s most murderous mage has come to Faldorrah... -
The Terrible Thing That Happens by Carlton Mellick III
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThere is a grocery store. The last grocery store in the world. It stands alone in the middle of a vast wasteland that was once our world. The open sign is still illuminated, brightening the black landscape. It can be seen from miles away, even through the poisonous red ash. Every night at the exact same time, the store comes alive. It becomes exactly as it was before the world ended... -
My Name Is Lydia by Stephen Leather
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSupernatural detective Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate a young girl who appears to be possessed by an evil spirit... -
Cold Streets by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVampire detective Jack Fleming's latest venture-the Lady Crymsyn nightclub-has become the favorite haunt for Chicago's elite. But amongst his patrons lurk a smarmy blackmailer and a dangerous up-and-coming mobster from New York-both unaware how deadly Jack can be when blood is spilled.. -
Hellbound Hearts by Paul Kane, Jeffrey J. Mariotte
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsClive Barker's iconic masterpiece The Hellbound Heart, the novella adapted into the film Hellraiser, unleashed a new mythology of horror, brilliantly conceived and born of the darkest imagination. Now, enter this visionary world - the merciless realm of the demonic Cenobites - in this collection of stories inspired by The Hellbound Heart... -
Ghost Money by Stephen Blackmoore
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsThe fifth book of this dark urban fantasy series follows necromancer Eric Carter through a world of vengeful gods and goddesses, mysterious murders, and restless ghosts.The Los Angeles Firestorm killed over a hundred thousand people, set in revenge against necromancer Eric Carter for defying the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl. Carter feels every drop of that blood on his hands... -
The Scour by Richard Swan
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFifteen years before the events of The Justice of Kings, Vonvalt and Bressinger investigate the imprisonment of a fellow justice for murder... -
The Living End by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 28 ratingsAs the FBI closes in on the Las Vegas underworld, Daniel Faust -- grifter, thief, and sorcerer -- isn't the only one feeling the heat. Half-demon racket boss Nicky Agnelli is fighting to hang onto his empire, leaving a trail of dead informants in his wake, while Daniel's ex-girlfriend Jennifer rallies her forces on the street and aims her sights at Nicky's crown... -
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Swift to Chase by Laird Barron, Paul Tremblay
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLaird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas... -
The Ways by Glynn James
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook 3 of the Diary of the Displaced series.Alone again.Sitting on the ledge in the darkness of The Corridor.A sword thrust through his chest.His faithful companion, DogThing - thrown to the horde of Zombies below.The scaffold bridge that was his only escape - destroyed.Rudy, Adler, Reg and Marie - all separated by the closed portal.The portal key - stolen.His weapons - thrown into the darkness... -
Hannahwhere by John M. McIlveen
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWinner of the 2015 Drunken Druid Award (Ireland) for high literary merit.Nominee for the 2015 Bram Stoker Award (HWA) in the First Novel category.In a suburb on Boston’s North Shore, a catatonic little girl is found behind a dumpster. She is a mystery... -
The Hammer and the Goat by Peter Newman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis novelette is set parallel to events in THE VAGRANT and tells the story of what the Hammer that Walks and the goat get up to when left to their own... -
Crackpot Palace by Jeffrey Ford
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsEclectic is certainly an adjective that can be used to describe the work of the phenomenal Jeffrey Ford—along with imaginative, provocative, mesmerizing, and brilliant. His powerful dark fantasy, The Physiognomy, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; his novel, The Girl in the Glass, won the Edgar® Award, mystery and crime fiction’s most prestigious prize... -
Welcome to the Show by Doug Murano, John Skipp
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratings17 horror Stories. One legendary music venue. We all know the old cliché: Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Now, add demons, other dimensions, monsters, revenge, human sacrifice, and a dash of the truly inexplicable. This is the story of the (fictional) San Francisco music venue, The Shantyman... -
The Dead Game by Susanne Leist
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLinda moves to a seaside town to live a quiet life. She opens a bookstore and makes new friends. Life is simple--that is until the dead body washes up on shore. Linda is horrified to find that dead bodies and disappearing tourists are common for this small town. As soon as the sun sets, the residents and tourists are stalked by dark shadows. But this is only the beginning... -
The Shadow of The High King: The Weaving Shadows Book One by Frank Dorrian
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsViolence, betrayal and vengeance rot Caermark from within.King Aenwald, a murderous tyrant determined to continue his twenty-year rule, will suffer no man that lusts for power. But those who came long before the Kings of Caermark stir once again, after a hundred years of silence, and even Aenwald’s iron fist may struggle to hold them and the chaos they bring... -
Sweet Story by Carlton Mellick III
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe end of the world has never been sweeter. Sally is an odd little girl. It's not because she dresses as if she's from the Edwardian era or spends most of her time playing with creepy talking dolls. It's because she chases rainbows as if they were butterflies... -
The Stars Were Right by K.M. Alexander
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsCaravan Master Waldo Bell didn’t expect to return home a criminal. He just wanted a relaxing month off between jobs so he could explore the city of Lovat, enjoy a soft bed and a few decent meals. Instead, he’s arrested—accused of killing old friends and hacking off body parts.Escaping custody and on the run, Wal becomes a citywide fugitive fighting to clear his name... -
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The Vagrant and the City by Peter Newman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe second short story set in Peter Newman’s incredible world of THE VAGRANT... -
The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand by Caroline Kepnes, Wrath James White
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAn original short story anthology based on master storyteller Stephen King’s #1 New York Times bestselling classic The Stand!Since its initial publication in 1978, The Stand has been considered Stephen King’s seminal masterpiece of apocalyptic fiction, with millions of copies sold and adapted twice for television... -
The Broken Lands by Glynn James
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBook 2 of the Diary of the Displaced SeriesThe Journal of James Halldon continues...After escaping from The Corridor with DogThing, Rudy and Adler, James discovers that the world awaiting him outside is just as harsh as the one he had left behind.The horrors that he had escaped from, that lurked in the darkness, would continue to haunt him in the bright sunlight of The Broken Lands... -
Cold Print by Ramsey Campbell
Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsA collection of Ramsey campbell's horror stories, including The Church in the High Street, The Room in the Castle, The Horrors from the Bridge, The Insects from Shaggai, The Render of the Veils, The Inhabitant of the Lake, The Will of Stanley Brooke, The Moon-Lens, Before the Storm, Cold Print, Among These Pictures Are, The Tugging, The Faces at Pine Dunes, Blacked Out, and The Voice of the Beach... -
The Light is the Darkness by Laird Barron
Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsConrad Navarro is a champion of the Pageant, a gruesome modern day gladiatorial exhibition held in secret arenas across the globe. Indentured by a cabal of ultra-rich patrons, his world is one of blood and mayhem, an existence where savagery reigns supreme while mercy leads to annihilation. Conrad's sister has vanished while traveling in Mexico... -
The Takers by R.W. Ridley
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNever say their name! If you do, they will find you! If they find you, they will eat you! Thirteen-year-old Oz Griffin knows it's his fault that the Takers are eating everyone in sight. He also knows that a comic book written by a neighborhood boy is the key to defeating them. But every time he and his band of survivors try to read the comic book, the Takers draw closer... -
Shadow of the Soul by Sarah Pinborough
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe author of the “diabolically clever”* A Matter of Blood returns with another gritty supernatural thriller featuring hard-boiled homicide detective Cass Jones… A devastating terrorist attack has crippled London. To find a perpetrator who is more than human, Special Branch turns to Detective Inspector Cass Jones... -
Riders of the Dead by Dan Abnett
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsTo the north of the Empire lies the Chaos Wastes, home of the Dark Powers and their servants. All that stands between the gateway to hell and the civilised world is the city of Kislev. Two brothers in arms find their destinies thrown into turmoil as their fight against the hordes of Chaos tears them apart... -
One Foot in the Grave by Wm. Mark Simmons
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsChristopher Csejthe doesn't believe in vampires--until he becomes one. He doesn't believe in witches or werewolves, either. Then they make him an offer he can't refuse... -
The World on Blood by Jonathan Nasaw
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsNasaw's stunningly original novel introduces readers to a group of contemporary "blood addicts" in Northern California who have for the last 20 years--under the leadership of charismatic and cheerfully immoral multi-millionaire James Whistler and erstwhile intelligence officer and horror novelist Nick Santos--been satifying their boundless thirst for blood... -
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The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2013 Edition by Paula Guran, Laird Barron
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe darkness creeps upon us and we shudder, or it suddenly startles and we scream. There need be no monsters for us to be terrified in the dark, but if there are, they are just as often human and supernatural... -
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010 by Paula Guran, Kelley Armstrong
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDarkness surrounds us. We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere, a place where car keys, toys, people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and, most definitely, within ourselves... -
Year's Best Weird Fiction, Vol. 1 by Laird Barron, Jeffrey Ford
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWelcome to the weird! Acclaimed author and editor Laird Barron, one of weird fiction's brightest exponents, brings his expert eye and editorial sense to the inaugural volume of the Year's Best Weird Fiction. No longer the purview of esoteric readers, weird fiction is enjoying wide popularity... -
Psycho Save Us by Chad Huskins
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo young girls with a gift for telepathy are abducted off the streets of Atlanta by a ruthless ring of human traffickers and child pornographers, and their only hope is Spencer Pelletier, a career criminal recently escaped from Leavenworth Penitentiary... -
Diablo III: Heroes Rise, Darkness Falls by Micky Neilson, Cameron Dayton
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA collection of terrifying tales based on the award-winning video game! A bold demon hunter risks becoming her own worst enemy while tracking down her sinister prey…A haunted barbarian returns to his shattered homeland to face a harrowing past…A lone monk scours evil from an ancient forest where the line between friend and foe has vanished…A gifted but impetuous wizard finds out that great... -
Dark Side of Sunset Pointe by Michael Allan Scott
Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLibrarian Note: Alternate Cover Edition for ISBN10: 193870195X / ISBN13: 9781938701955.“An intriguing hook and a sympathetic protagonist in a world that, while seemingly depraved and dark, is clearly recognizable and believable. A well-built mystery…” Kirkus Reviews"You see the crime through the eyes of the victims . .
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