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It felt wrong to let October pass without a specifically Halloween-coded article (though my piece about The Hunger was written in that spirit), so today I’m here with some recommendations for queer horror books. I love watching and reading seasonally appropriate media, so I’ve been digging into horror this month. I know horror isn’t for everyone, and these books vary in frights/gore/suspense, etc., which I will try to note, though I don’t have a great sense of what’s scary to other people. I hope you enjoy this list, and let me know what you’re watching and reading this October!
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
You may know Chuck Tingle as the anonymous author of nonhuman gay erotica who only appears in sunglasses and a pink bag over his head. All of that is true, but Tingle also penned a touching queer horror book called Camp Damascus in 2023. The man has range! Camp Damascus follows Rose, a high school senior living in a small town in Montana. Rose belongs to a culty Christian church that runs a world-renowned conversion therapy camp in their town. Once a devout member of the community, Rose begins to suspect that not everything is as it seems, and she’s forced to face her demons to discover the truth.
Conversion therapy is a difficult topic to cover, and while Camp Damascus is no But I’m a Cheerleader, it tackles the subject material in some really clever ways. I don’t want to spoil anything, but let’s just say Tingle takes the homophobic fearmongering used by Christians – the threat of burning in hell, the concept of demons – to electrifying new heights. (Warning to readers: the terrors are very real.) Despite the dark subject matter, Camp Damascus is an unapologetically earnest book that literalizes the cost of homophobia and the power in rewriting your story.
Rose is a fascinating narrator, and neurodivergent readers may appreciate the journey she takes in freeing herself from the shame and judgment associated with autism. If you like Camp Damascus, Tingle has two other horror books, Bury Your Gays and Lucky Day, that you can add to your list.
A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand
Many queer horror fans will be familiar with The Haunting of Hill House, Shirley Jackson’s famed horror book from 1959. The book’s gay themes are quite apparent, and they have been brought to life in other forms, such as Mike Flanagan’s Netflix series of the same name. In A Haunting on the Hill, Elizabeth Hand returns to Hill House with an explicitly queer story, digging into the psychological horrors that Jackson so beautifully explored in her novel.
The first authorized sequel to The Haunting of Hill House (Jackson’s son was involved in the project), Hand’s book takes place in the present day. We follow Holly, a struggling playwright who’s finally written a play she believes could be a hit. Holly enlists the help of her girlfriend, Nisa, a singer and expert on murder ballads, and her best friend Stevie, an actor and DJ. Famed theater actress Amanda Wingfield agrees to play the lead role, and the foursome travels to the ominous Hill House to rehearse the play.
If you’ve read the original novel (or seen any of the film adaptations), you know this is a very bad idea. Hill House has a way of preying on the fears and insecurities of its inhabitants, and Holly and her troupe find themselves trapped in the house’s cold embrace. A compelling take on the source material, A Haunting on the Hill delivers atmospheric horror and a classic haunted house story.
Feast While You Can by Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta
Mikaella Clements and Onjuli Datta’s Feast While You Can is one of the most unique books I’ve read. Set in the dreary, Italian-esque town of Cadenze, the novel follows Angelina, a 20-something local trying to make a life for herself in her dead-end town. Angelina’s humdrum life, which includes working at the local bar and attempting to bed every beautiful woman she meets, becomes complicated with the arrival of Jagvi, her brother Patrick’s ex-girlfriend. Angelina and Jagvi’s relationship is difficult to pin down. Are they enemies? Friends? Rivals? Something, uh, gayer?
Pinning down the exact nature of their relationship has to wait, as Jagvi’s return sparks the reappearance of an ancient evil that begins possessing Angelina. Jagvi’s touch is the only thing that can keep the monster at bay, forcing them to get intimate, quick. The monster feasts on Angelina’s pain and her passion, and her continued existence becomes a fight for her very soul. Both haunting and tender, Feast While You Can tells a ravenous love story in which monstrosity comes from deep within.
My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen
A gothic tale predicated on passion and decay, My Darling Dreadful Thing pulls you down into the dark with its disturbed protagonists. Set in 1950s Netherlands, we follow Roos, a young woman with a spirit companion named Ruth. Roos lives with her abusive mother, who uses Roos’ connection with Ruth to hold seances and commune with the dead. A wealthy widow named Agnes Knoop attends one of these seances and brings Roos back to live with her in her empty mansion.
Roos and Agnes have a growing connection, but otherworldly forces tear them apart. Agnes’ decrepit aunt spread an air of death across the house, and soon, someone is murdered. Roos is the obvious culprit, and the story is told through interviews with a psychiatrist trying to determine if Roos is insane. Author Johanna van Veen sets up an eerie atmosphere that leaves the reader uncertain of the truth, even as the mystery is slowly revealed. A slow burn of suspense, horror, and doomed romance, My Darling Dreadful Thing builds a sense of dread that’s hard to shake.
Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin
Gretchen Felker-Martin’s Manhunt is a wholly original story that’s as gruesome as it is heartfelt. A bloody, brutal post-apocalyptic tale, we’re dropped into a zombie outbreak for the gender wars age. A viral outbreak turns men into feral monsters. Cis women and trans men not taking testosterone were spared from the disease, while trans women are faced with another predicament: collecting enough estrogen to prevent themselves from turning into monsters.
Friends Beth and Fran traverse New England, hunting feral men and harvesting their organs. Robbie survives on his own, trusting no one. Indy, a doctor, tries to do good in a terrible world. In addition to the zombie apocalypse, our ragtag group faces another threat: a group of TERFs who have seized power and made it their mission to eliminate trans women.
A searing take on toxic gender politics and transphobia, Felker-Martin’s novel was designed to make you uncomfortable. Be prepared for plenty of gore, along with difficult conversations about bodies and identity. Still, Manhunt isn’t totally bleak, as Felker-Martin injects hope into the chaos, a flash of light in the pitch-black night of this horrible world.
Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch
If you’re a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer or The Craft, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Freddie Kölsch’s Now, Conjurers. Set in 1997 Massachusetts, we follow Nesbit Nuñez, a high school student and talented mechanic. Nesbit meets an interesting cast of characters at his new school, including Bastion Attia, a handsome quarterback. Nesbit and Bastion become secret boyfriends, and Nesbit joins a coven that includes Bastion, his younger sister Dove, and girlfriends Drea and Brandy.
The story begins when Nesbit discovers the mangled body of the boy he loves in the woods. The coven sets out to uncover the mystery behind Bastion’s death, as well as the puzzle that was his life. When Bastion was alive, he had several strange verbal tics, including a need to start every sentence with a word beginning with N and an inability to say his own name.
Kölsch weaves a beautiful, tragic story of true love, found family, and becoming in this stunning debut. She has a wonderful handle on setting, dropping us right into 1990s New England and creating a rich sense of time and place. Both a compelling mystery and a profound love story, Now, Conjurers will break your heart in the best way. A hot tip: if this novel sounds like your jam, be sure to check out Kelly Link’s wonderful The Book of Love as well.
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez
If you’re a horror fan and haven’t read Mariana Enriquez, you need to change that right away. An absolute master of her craft, Enriquez’s 2019 epic Our Share of Night is one of the best books I’ve ever read. Set during Argentina’s dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s, we begin with Juan and his son Gaspar, reeling from the death of Gaspar’s mother, Rosario. Gaspar learns his mother’s family runs a supernatural cult called the Order, and they have been using Juan, a medium, to carry out their evil deeds. Juan does everything in his power to prevent Gaspar from being used by the Order like he was, a mission that takes an enormous toll.
Our Share of Night takes place in several different time periods, unraveling the tangled lives of our protagonists as it tells a story of family, fate, and love. The book features several queer characters who inhabit this magical world, though such details matter naught to the forces beyond the veil. It’s difficult to describe Our Share of Night considering its vast scale, but Enriquez’ masterpiece keeps the focus on its beautifully drawn characters and their relationships to one another, even as political and supernatural turmoil swirls all around them. She manages to ground the book’s fantastical elements in the realm of the personal, meaning Our Share of Night requires empathy, more so than imagination, on the part of the reader.
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Alison Rumfitt’s Tell Me I’m Worthless drags the reader into the depths of hell and doesn’t let go. An unrelenting dark book, it follows two former best friends torn apart by a house filled with pure evil. Three years ago, Alice, Ila, and Hannah spent the night in a haunted house. Hannah never made it out, and Alice and Ila were never the same after that night. Ila became a TERF, while Alice, often the subject of Ila’s vitriol, sees ghosts and drinks to forget. Both women remember the night differently, blaming the other for the heinous things they witnessed.
Tell Me I’m Worthless features a fair amount of graphic violence, including sexual violence, so it’s definitely not for everyone. Rumfitt uses this violence and the terror these characters experience as a means to explore fascism. The house is not just a haunted house, but a fascist house, one that embodies the opposite of compassion, something akin to utter abjection.
The book references other horror classics, such as The Haunting of Hill House and Alison Carter’s influential short story The Bloody Chamber, using these horror touchstones to confront the reader with the root of pure evil. It’s a divisive book, and the haunted-house-as-fasicsm metaphor doesn’t always work, but Rumfitt’s thought-provoking prose and unsettling story are anything but boring.
Patricia Wants to Cuddle by Samantha Allen
Probably the least scary (but still gory!) book on this list, Patricia Wants to Cuddle is a zany horror-comedy and a delightful take on the monster narrative. Best described as a Bachelor parody mixed with a lesbian Sasquatch story (seriously), you’ve probably never read anything quite like it. Set in the beautiful, misty Pacific Northwest (in a locale seeming modeled after Orcas Island), our protagonists are contestants on a reality dating show. While supposedly vying for the attention of a sleazy man, a few of the contestants are actually pretty gay.
The cutthroat world of reality television is harrowing enough, but a mysterious figure lurking in the woods might be the real killer. You’ll have to read the book to find out who Patricia is and if she really wants to cuddle, but suffice it to say, the answer to this question would make Mary Shelley jump for joy. If you like your queer books weird as hell, this novel is exactly what the doctor ordered.
Honorable mentions: Horror Movie by Paul Tremblay. It’s not a queer book, but horror movie fans are primed to enjoy this killer take on the “cursed movie” trope. It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, is a great collection of essays on queer horror movies, broadly defined, that I’ve written about before.
