Classic horror

Novels that not only define horror but also explore deep psychological and existential themes, making them timeless reads that have left a lasting impact on the genre.

Updated October 21, 2024
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The castle of Otranto : a gothic story
Walpole, Horace 1717-1797
Ebook
The Gothic masterwork that revolutionized popular fiction When Prince Manfred of Otranto loses his son in a strange and terrifying accident, he fears that an ancient prophecy has come to pass and his family will be stripped of its castle and lands before he can produce a new...
Frankenstein
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Paper Book
Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read "I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine...
The fall of the house of Usher : and other tales
Poe, Edgar Allan 1809-1849
Ebook
Classic tales of mystery, terror, and suspense, including The Fall of the House of Usher--the inspiration for the Netflix series from Mike Flanagan, the director of The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass! This volume gathers together fourteen of Edgar...
Carmilla
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan 1814-1873
Ebook
Got a hankering for top-notch Gothic horror? Lose yourself in J. Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla, a titillating tale that centers on a lady-loving vampire who terrorizes an unsuspecting family in nineteenth-century Austria. Experts of the genre say that this novel exerted a significant influence on Bram...
The strange case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paper Book
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a landmark in psychological fiction. The respectable doctor and his horrifying double are known even to those who have never read Robert Louis Stevenson’s short novel. This special edition, based on the original one published in...
The picture of Dorian Gray
Wilde, Oscar 1854-1900
Paper Book
An astounding novel of decadence, debauchery, and secrecy from one of Ireland's greatest writers. Nominated as one of America's best-loved novels by PBS's The Great American Read Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray makes a Faustian bargain to sell...
The great god Pan and other horror stories
Machen, Arthur 1863-1947
Paper Book
Something pushed out from the body there on the floor, and stretched forth a slimy, wavering tentacle...Perhaps no figure better embodies the transition from the Gothic tradition to modern horror than Arthur Machen. In the final decade of the nineteenth century, the Welsh writer produced a seminal...
Dracula
Stoker, Bram 1847-1912
Paper Book
'it was butcher work...the horrid screeching as the stake drove home; the plunging of writhing form, and lips of bloody foam'Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic shocker introduced Count Dracula to the world, an ancient creature bent on bringing his contagion to London, the very heart of the British Empire....
The phantom of the opera
Leroux, Gaston
Paper Book
"The wildest and most fantastic of tales." - New York Times Book Review. The novel from the early 20th century that inspired the Lon Chaney film and the hit musical. In the 1880s, in Paris, the Palais Garnier Opera House is believed haunted. One night, a young woman, Christine, is asked to...
The haunting of Hill House
Jackson, Shirley
Paper Book
The greatest haunted house story ever written--the inspiration for the hit Netflix horror series! One of The Atlantic's Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been...

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