# The 16 Greatest Horror Short Story Collections

> Victorian ghost stories sit beside modern literary nightmares, with pulp shocks and slow-burn dread in between. Cast your vote!

*By YPB Team · Published September 14, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-16-greatest-horror-short-story-collections*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Books of Blood** — score 1000/1000
   Clive Barker's genre-redefining 1980s volumes of visceral, imaginative horror tales.
2. **Ghost Stories of an Antiquary** — score 551/1000
   M.R. James' 1904 collection that set the template for the English ghost story.
3. **Her Body and Other Parties** — score 551/1000
   Carmen Maria Machado's acclaimed 2017 collection blending horror, fabulism, and queer desire.
4. **Night Shift** — score 551/1000
   Stephen King's 1978 debut collection, packed with early classics like 'Children of the Corn' and 'The Mangler'.
5. **Things We Lost in the Fire** — score 551/1000
   Mariana Enriquez's chilling 2016 collection of Argentine urban horror.
6. **North American Lake Monsters** — score 466/1000
   Nathan Ballingrud's award-winning 2013 collection of literary, blue-collar horror.
7. **The White People and Other Weird Stories** — score 466/1000
   A collection of Arthur Machen's influential tales of hidden, ancient terror.
8. **The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories** — score 466/1000
   A definitive collection of H.P. Lovecraft's foundational cosmic-horror tales.
9. **Skeleton Crew** — score 363/1000
   Stephen King's 1985 collection anchored by the novella 'The Mist'.
10. **Tales of Mystery and Imagination** — score 363/1000
   The classic gathering of Edgar Allan Poe's macabre and gothic short fiction.
11. **The October Country** — score 363/1000
   Ray Bradbury's atmospheric 1955 collection of dark, autumnal fantasies.
12. **Nightmares & Dreamscapes** — score 363/1000
   Stephen King's sprawling 1993 collection spanning horror, suspense, and dark fantasy.
13. **The King in Yellow** — score 0/1000
   Robert W. Chambers' 1895 collection of eerie, interlinked weird tales that influenced cosmic horror.
14. **The Bloody Chamber** — score 0/1000
   Angela Carter's 1979 collection of feminist, gothic fairy-tale reimaginings.
15. **The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All** — score 0/1000
   Laird Barron's dark 2013 collection of cosmic and noir-tinged horror stories.
16. **Get in Trouble** — score 0/1000
   Kelly Link's 2015 collection of strange, genre-bending tales laced with unease.

Tags: books, horror, classics