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 mysteries of Udolpho
Radcliffe, Ann
Paper Book
`Her present life appeared like the dream of a distempered imagination, or like one of those frightful fictions, in which the wild genius of the poets sometimes delighted. Rreflections brought only regret, and anticipation terror.' Such is the state of mind in which Emily St. Aubuert - the orphaned...
Frankenstein
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft
Paper Book
Obsessed by creating life itself, Victor Frankenstein plunders graveyards for the material to fashion a new being, which he shocks into life by electricity. But his botched creature, rejected by Frankenstein and denied human companionship, sets out to destroy his maker and all that he holds dear....
Carmilla
Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan
Paper Book
"To this hour the image of Carmilla returns to my memory with ambiguous alternations--sometimes the playful, languid, beautiful girl; sometimes the writhing fiend I saw in the ruined church. Sometimes, I start from a reverie, certain I heard the light step of Carmilla at the drawing-room door....
The strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Stevenson, Robert Louis
Paper Book
This intriguing novel, both fantasy thriller and moral allegory, depicts the struggle of two opposing personalities -- one essentially good, the other evil -- for the soul of one man.
The picture of Dorian Gray
Wilde, Oscar 1854-1900
Paper Book
Enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, Dorian Gray exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life; indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman inthe eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears...
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...
Dracula
Stoker, Bram
Paper Book
Bram Stoker's peerless tale of desperate battle against a powerful, ancient vampire When Jonathan Harker visits Transylvania to help Count Dracula purchase a London house, he makes horrifying discoveries in his client's castle. Soon afterwards, disturbing incidents unfold in...
The phantom of the opera
Leroux, Gaston
Paper Book
"One of the most famous ghost stories that no one has actually read" (New York Times), The Phantom of the Opera is the first in the Haunted Library Horror Classics series presented by the Horror Writers Association. An unabridged edition of the novel that inspired the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber...
The call of Cthulhu and other weird stories
Lovecraft, H. P.
Paper Book
A definitive collection of stories from the unrivaled master of twentieth-century horror "I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." -Stephen King Frequently...
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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