Bestselling Horror Story Anthologies

Looking for horror stories and horror story collections? The 10 horror anthologies below are the best current collections of horror stories available on Amazon, and they're bound to please.

  1. The New Dead: A Zombie AnthologyThe New Dead: A Zombie Anthology by Christopher Golden - If horror stories about the living dead tickle your fancy, then this collection from Christopher Golden would be a great purchase. 19 stories are included, from authors as diverse as Joe Hill, Rick Hautala, and Joe Lansdale.
  2. The Best of HP LovecraftThe Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre by H.P. Lovecraft - An affordable introduction to H.P. Lovecraft, who is considered by most people to be Poe's successor as master of the horror story. Lovecraft has been a huge influence on every horror writer since.
  3. The Empty House and Other Ghost StoriesThe Empty House and Other Ghost Stories by Algernon Blackwood - This is one of only two single-author anthologies of horror stories included on this list. Blackwood is a master of the craft, and his stories were a huge influence on H.P. Lovecraft.
  4. Poe's ChildrenPoe's Children: The New Horror by Peter Straub - Over 600 pages of horror stories selected by one of the master horror novelists writing today, Peter Straub. Authors included in the collection include John Crowley, Thomas Tessier, and Thomas Ligotti.
  5. Darkness: Two Decades of Modern HorrorDarkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror by Ellen Datlow - Darkness presents 25 horror stories from a diverse group of writers including Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King.
  6. Vile Things: Extreme Deviations of HorrorVile Things: Extreme Deviations of Horror by Cheryl Mullenax - British horror writers Graham Masterton and Ramsey Campbell both have stories included in this anthology of horror stories, and other authors include Tim Curran and Randy Chandler.
  7. Hellbound HeartsHellbound Hearts by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan - This is an anthology of stories set in the same universe as Clive Barker's novel The Hellbound Heart. (That book was the source material for the Hellraiser movies.) Includes stories from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean.
  8. Dark Delicacies III: HauntedDark Delicacies III: Haunted by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb - The editor, Del Howison, owns and operates one of only two all-horror bookstores in the USA, Dark Delicacies. This anthology includes a novella from Chuck Palahniuk, as well as short stories from notable horror authors like David Morrell and Clive Barker.
  9. The Mammoth Book of the Best New HorrorThe Mammoth Book of the Best New Horror by Stephen Jones - Presents short horror stories from 1989 to 2008 from authors like Brian Lumley, Ramsey Campbell, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub, Tim Lebbon, Joe Hill, Clive Barker, and Stephen King.
  10. Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry DeadZombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead by John Skipp - Features 32 zombie stories from notable horror authors like Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, Robert R. McCammon, and Joe Lansdale.

The Horror Stories Genre

Fear and adrenaline, when concocted with skill, can create an addictive mix. This is the overall premise behind the world's infatuation with the horror genre. Skilled storytellers and writers of the horror genre are able to strike the human psyche at its core with meticulously crafted tales. Of course, everyone is familiar with this genre as it pertains to literature and Hollywood movies, but what of the actual genre itself?

Despite popular claims, horror stories are either fully or mostly fictional. The characters, however, aren't always conjured in the imagination of the author. Societies as far back as antiquity had beliefs derived from religion that involved specters, spirits, werewolves and other figures. As it pertains to movies and books, these of course are tweaked by Hollywood and novelists to maximize the fear that they can induce.

Horror has been an integral part of film and writing for as far back as film and writing go. The popularity of the horror genre is attributed to the alluring nature of suspense and the potent emotion that is fear. The objective of the horror story is to penetrate the listener's sense of security by relating to him or her on one or a number of personal levels. This technique is rooted in psychology and is seen in a couple of forms in the horror genre.

The first kind of psychological tactic that storytellers and writers use in horror to terrify listeners and readers is that of pungent realism. This is a relatively simple strategy: simply simulate a situation in which some activity that is commonplace for the audience becomes the source of the fear itself. This is exemplified in the many horror movies about killers that hunt down their victims through online chat or at a beautiful but sparsely populated vacation area. The point is, the audience will inevitably relate to the victims and think "this could happen to me."

The next most prevalent strategy in terrifying an audience is using the fear of the unknown. This is a very, very potent kind of fear, rooted deep in human instinct. For stories, the element of the unknown could be a killer whose appearance is obscured or deformed, a mystical force, or other sci-fi elements.

No matter what technique is used, the story must incorporate the building up of suspense for the climax to be as frightening and momentous as possible. To go through the climax at the beginning of a story renders the rest of it boring and superfluous. The proper use of suspense envelops the audience in the plot and makes them almost want terrible things to happen.

The horror genre, through the use of the potent motivator that is fear, has undoubtedly enriched the world of storytelling. The success of the horror story genre and the resulting media is a reminder to humankind of one fundamental truth: fear is good in small doses.