It’s hard to remember a time when horror felt quite this essential. Over the course of the first half of 2026, we’ve seen the genre dominate box office charts and read so many news pieces about horror books getting much-anticipated movie adaptations, underlining something horror fans have long argued: that these stories can do far more than deliver cheap thrills. At its best, horror provides a way of exploring grief, social unease and deeply personal fears, often with a clarity that more straightforward drama struggles to match. And people aren’t just looking for a quick startle anymore – they are looking for stories with teeth, and the publishing world is more than happy to oblige.
If a novel offers the space to inhabit a single nightmare, an anthology delivers a different kind of satisfaction. Like a programme of short films, these collections can move from gothic ghost stories to cosmic horror in the space of a few pages, showcasing a range of voices, styles and ideas in one volume. With an impressive slate arriving over the second half of the year, we’ve narrowed the list to the 10 horror anthologies we’re most looking forward to reading.
Lovecraft’s Brood: Nineteen Tales of Cosmic Horror, ed. Ellen Datlow (Jul 21, Tachyon)
What it’s about: An illustrated follow-up to the well-received Lovecraft’s Monsters, this anthology brings together 19 stories that explore cosmic horror through themes of bodily unease and humanity’s place in an indifferent universe. Among the standout premises are a prison guard drawn into an affair with an inmate after exposure to hallucinogenic fungal spores, squatters discovering an unsettling idol in an abandoned railway station, researchers confronting the possibility that their test subjects are skin-stealing impostors, and a stray cat inadvertently exposing a portal that should definitely maybe have been left well closed.
Why we’re excited: Few editors have shaped modern horror quite like Ellen Datlow. Across decades of anthologies, she’s developed a knack for championing writers who stretch cosmic horror in unexpected directions rather than simply recycling Lovecraftian tropes. With its illustrated format and typically strong line-up, this looks set to be another standout addition to her catalogue.
All Hallows Eve, ed. Ellen Datlow (Sept 8, Titan)
What it’s about: Few nights lend themselves to horror quite like Halloween. Bringing together 19 original stories, this anthology digs into the folklore, history and lingering unease of All Hallows’ Eve, giving familiar traditions a contemporary twist while exploring the fragile line between the living and the dead.
Why we’re excited: Halloween-themed anthologies can occasionally lean into the campy, but with Datlow managing the selection, this is set to be a sophisticated and genuinely unsettling collection. Backed by established names like Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, and Garth Nix, it’s an essential release for spooky season.
Unearthed: New Horror of Ancient Ruins, ed. Dan Coxon & Philip Fracassi (Sept 15, Titan)
What it’s about: An excavation of archaeological dread across nineteen original stories. The collection ventures into crumbling temples, subterranean catacombs, and silent monoliths to explore the idea that some histories are better left buried, dragging ancient anxieties back into the modern light.
Why we’re excited: There is a rich, gothic tradition of setting horror in ruins, and co-editors Dan Coxon and Philip Fracassi are well suited to navigate it. Brimming with stories of crumbling ruins, forgotten histories and slow-burning dread, this looks like an easy recommendation for readers who like their chills with a strong gothic streak.
The Big Bad Book of Kaiju, ed. Jonathan Maberry & Henry Herz (Sept 22, Titan)
What it’s about: A collection of twenty-five original tales featuring colossal, skyscraper-sized entities. The stories explore the immediate destruction of modern metropolises and the fragile, desperate human alliances that form in the dust of their footprints.
Why we’re excited: Scale is difficult to capture in prose, but this writer lineup—including Tananarive Due, Christopher Golden, Seanan McGuire, and The Meg’s Steve Alten—is highly capable. It promises to be an engaging, kinetic reading experience that translates creature features to the page.
Sometimes I Scare Myself, Jeneva Rose (Sept 22, Blackstone)
What it’s about: A solo-author collection exploring the terror of familiar spaces gone wrong. A playful séance at a thirtieth birthday dinner party turns fatal; a postpartum mother becomes convinced her new home is actively hostile; and a group of friends snowed in at a cabin find themselves hunted after pocketing a cursed item from a roadside shop.
Why we’re excited: Jeneva Rose has built a large following on twisty domestic suspense, but this marks a deliberate, interesting pivot into outright supernatural dread. The physical release—stylised with a striking Ouija board motif—perfectly matches the book’s guaranteed sharp, uncanny energy.
Traps and Specters: Stories, Philip Fracassi (Sept 22, Shortwave)
What it’s about: Fourteen tales of the macabre spanning talking corpses, ill-fated exorcisms, technophobic nightmares, and prison violence, all bound together by Fracassi’s signature focus on tight, claustrophobic tension.
Why we’re excited: Philip Fracassi writes with a cinematic precision that gives his stories real momentum. Complete with an introduction by bestselling author Matt Dinniman, Traps and Specters is bound to provide another compelling reminder (not that we need one) of why he’s fast become one of contemporary horror’s most distinctive voices.
Silent Nightmares: Haunting Stories to Be Told on the Longest Night of the Year, ed. Chuck Palahniuk & Michael Bailey (Sept 29, Saga)
What it’s about: A modern continuation of the Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories in the dead of winter. These tales strip away the artificial warmth of the holiday season to expose the cold, predatory things lurking in the snow and the dark history of the hearth.
Why we’re excited: Michael Bailey and Chuck Palahniuk are an inspired pairing, and the supporting line-up only adds to the appeal. With contributors including Alma Katsu, Joe R. Lansdale and Gabino Iglesias, Silent Nightmares looks well placed to deliver the kind of cold-weather chills its title promises.
Something Followed Us Home: Tales of Latiné Horror, ed. Cynthia Pelayo (Sept 29, Primero Sueño)
What it’s about: An anthology that uses horror to interrogate the scars of immigration, colonisation, faith, and folklore. The stories move through haunted domestic spheres, hostile borders, and bodies claimed by ancestral, intimate terrors.
Why we’re excited: This is one of the more culturally engaging anthologies of the year. Curated by Bram Stoker Award-winner Cynthia Pelayo, it boasts an excellent roster of literary talent—including Mariana Enriquez, Agustina Bazterrica, and Isabel Cañas—promising a collection that is as thoughtful and though-provoking as it is terrifying.
Ghost Lights: Horror Short Stories, ed. Mark Morris (Oct 20, Flame Tree)
What it’s about: The seventh installment of Flame Tree’s non-themed annual horror anthology. It presents twenty original stories—fifteen commissioned from established genre writers and five selected from open submissions—showcasing the breadth of contemporary dark fiction.
Why we’re excited: Free from the constraints of a central theme, Ghost Lights lets its contributors take horror in wildly different directions. With names including Rachel Harrison, Keith Rosson and Eric LaRocca on board this time round, Ghost Lights is consistently a strong indicator of where the genre is heading.
Your Body is a Fever Dream, ed. Alex Woodroe (Oct 6, Tenebrous)
What it’s about: A cosmic body horror anthology created by trans and gender-nonconforming writers and artists. Serving as a companion to Your Body is Not Your Body, it explores physical transformation, existential dread, and dimensional oddities through non-traditional, highly creative narrative formats.
Why we’re excited: Body horror is a subgenre uniquely suited to exploring the complexities of identity and physical autonomy. By filtering these themes through cosmic dread and experimental formats, this charity-driven anthology promises to be one of the most distinctive releases of the fall.
Before we leave you, here are:
CinemaChords’ Top 10 Horror Books of 2026 (So Far)
The Sixth Nik
Headlights
Wretch
Marion
Femme Feral
Nothing Tastes As Good
The Caretaker
Daytide
Hex House
Decomposition Book
