Throughout history, queer people have been depicted as the monsters lurking in the shadows, threatening “normal” society. From Carmilla to Dracula to Dorian Gray to Frankenstein’s monster, representation of queer identity has often been hidden behind the monstrous. In the world of publishing, queer authors are rewriting the narrative with LGBTQ+ people fighting back against the forces of darkness. Here are just a few of my favorite horror books featuring LGBTQ+ characters, and largely written by LGBTQ+ authors.
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White
I recommend just about everything Andrew Joseph White writes, but my favorite is his gothic horror novel The Spirit Bares Its Teeth. It takes place in a version of Victorian England where people with violet eyes can access the spiritual veil. In men, it’s a gift; in women, it means susceptibility to something called “veil sickness.” A trans man named Silas Bell is sent away to a school for girls to “cure” his veil sickness and force him to be the “proper” woman and wife he never wanted to be. Something rotten lurks under the surface of the school, the spirits are whispering, and he needs to find out what it is and escape before it takes him too.
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
Aymar Castle will run out of food in a matter of days after 6 months of siege with no rescue in sight. Just before the inhabitants are forced to make desperate choices, their divine Constant Lady and her Saints arrive to feed and to heal those trapped inside. As the entire castle descends into bacchanalian madness with feasts of dubitable origins, only 3 women inside can see what’s really starting to unfold within the castle walls. But they are not entirely immune to these strange new visitors, or their own tangled pasts.
If you love lesbians and cannibalism and mindfuckery, this book is for you.
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews
Andrew is a fairytale writer about to enter his senior year at Wickwood Academy with his sister, who has been keeping him at an arm’s length lately. He turns to his friend Thomas, an artist himself with his own peculiarities. His abusive parents have mysteriously disappeared, and Andrew notices blood on his sleeve, but Thomas won’t say a word. After following Thomas into the woods one night, he finds something out of a twisted fairytale that he would write about. Thomas’ drawings of monsters have come to life, and the two must fight them together each night to keep them away from those they care about. But as their connection, or rather, obsession grows, so do the monsters.
Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
The OG LESBIAN VAMPIRE NOVEL!! Carmilla is a novella that predates Dracula by 25 years, and has sparked countless different adaptations of lesbian vampire stories. Laura is a young woman living in an isolated castle with her father. After a carriage accident brings the mysterious Carmilla into her home, she finds herself drawn to this hypnotic woman. But Carmilla’s arrival brings Laura dreams of destruction, as well as mysterious illness and deaths in the area around her home. I highly recommend the version that has a forward and annotations from Carmen Maria Machado, the author of the short story collection Her Body and Other Parties. It’s a queer gothic classic perfect for Halloween season.
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
Speaking of Carmilla….I highly recommend this adaptation, too! I’ve talked about it in a previous book list, but to refresh your memory, Lenore is trying to make her marriage and their new isolated mansion work for her and her businessman husband, Henry. As they settle into their home on the moors, a carriage accident brings Carmilla to Lenore’s life, and a mysterious illness strikes the village’s women and girls with an insatiable hunger. Lenore is forced to choose between the life she fought hard to get and the life that she wants for herself, where she won’t have to starve out her own desires.
You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom by Vincent Tirado
The patriarch of the wealthy Abreu family, Papí Ramon, leaves his family a final warning in his will: “one of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.” After the family members dismiss this as the ramblings of an old man, they demand his lawyer get the previous copy of the will. Once he leaves, a storm breaks out, forcing the family to stay under one roof with this sentence hanging over their heads. As family scandals become unearthed and tensions mount under the gathering storm, Xiomara must find the demon and solve this family mystery before time runs out.
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Vincent Tirado spoke on a gothic horror panel that I attended at the Pittsburgh Book Festival this summer, and You Should Have Been Nicer to My Mom has been sitting on my TBR ever since. I really enjoyed listening to them talk about what went into forming the gothic world and characters, and I’m excited to sink my teeth into this one.
Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle
From the author of Pounded in the Butt by My Own Butt comes a psychological horror novel set in the god-fearing town of Neverton, Montana, which is home to the Church of the Pine. This evangelical church runs Camp Damascus, which is one of the most effective conversion therapy camps in the country, meant to expel your demons. But an unholy secret lurks around the church and the camp that will scare you straight.
This is the second Chuck Tingle book I’ve read, the first being Bury Your Gays, but don’t let his name or his previous “tinglers” fool you (but you should definitely check those out too), this book will stick with you after you finish reading it.
Chlorine by Jade Song
As a lesbian who was a D1 swimmer and was obsessed with mermaids as a child, this premise already has me hooked. Ren Yu’s dedication to her swimming career borders on obsession. If she performs well in the pool and makes her coach and parents happy, she will be satisfied. But the stories of mermaids call to her, and she is willing to do whatever it takes to be free, no matter what she has to do to herself or others to achieve it. Chlorine is a body/psychological horror that already sounds like a story that I would have heavily related to about 10 years ago, and I have already requested it from my library to read next.
You’re Not Supposed to Die Tonight by Kalynn Bayron
For the slasher fans out there, I’ve heard some good things about this! Charity’s summer job is getting to play the final girl in a live-action horror game where she and her friends recreate scenes from the classic horror movie, Curse of Camp Mirror Lake. As her coworkers start to vanish, Charity and her girlfriend Bezi find themselves fighting for real to survive the night and unmask the killer.
Public Access Afterworld by Jane Schoenbrun
Public Access Afterworld follows multiple characters all connected to the conspiracy theory of a mysterious world found through TV static that may not be just a theory after all. This book fits in well with the analog dreamworld and existential horror present in I Saw The TV Glow (which the author wrote and directed), and will appeal to fans of Kiersten White’s Mister Magic.
The imagery is unsettling, crackling at your skin like TV static. If you’re an analog horror fan, or still miss Blockbuster, this book is for you. I had the pleasure of reading an Advanced Reader Copy earlier this year, and I can’t wait to have it in my hands on October 27, when it officially releases.
