Required Reading

When I moderated the StokerCon 2023 panel, A Decade of Black Women in Horror, I gave the audience homework, and that was to read my “required reading” list. I have slightly expanded the list, which includes novels, collections, and anthologies.

Some texts have been around for decades; others are just out this year. As one attendee who followed my instructions mentioned afterwards, ours was an expensive panel!

This list of works by black women in horror is not intended to be exhaustive, so don’t @ me. It is my way of celebrating the black women who were honored at StokerCon 2023 and/or offered their support to our panel and Dealer’s Room table.

You can buy most of their works at my Bookshop list here and the others at the links below.

1. The Gilda Stories, by Jewelle Gomez

2. How to Recognize a Demon Has Become Your Friend, by Linda D. Addison

3. The Reluctant Dead, by Nuzo Onoh

4. The Rat King: A Book of Dark Poetry, by Sumiko Saulson

5. Daymares, by Kenya Moss-Dyme

6. Jackal, by Erin E. Adams

7. We Are Here to Hurt Each Other, by Paula D. Ashe

8. The Promise Keeper, by L. Marie Wood

9. Hell Hath No Sorrow Like a Woman Haunted, by R.J. Joseph

10. Gypsy Kisses and Voodoo Wishes, by Denise Tapscott

11. Love the Sinner, by Mo Moshaty

12. Sycorax’s Daughters, Editied by Kinitra Brooks, Linda D. Addison, Susana Morris

13. SLAY: Stories of the Vampire Noire, Edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz

14. Blackened Roots: An Anthology of the Undead, Edited by Nicole Givens Kurtz and Tonia Ransom

15. Black Magic Women: Terrifying Tales by Scary Sisters, Edited by Sumiko Saulson