Winter Reading Recommendations
for the horror fan…
Winter is a great time to read. There’s more down time in your life because the weather limits you from outdoor activities. The isolated feel of the weather and the early sundown also set the ideal mood for a good horror tale. Here are some great horror fiction stories and books to read during the winter months. They all have winter themes running through them, cold, snow, holidays, and isolation.
Winter Reading List
Short stories:
The Windego – Algernon Blackwood
Christmas Eve at Aunt Elsie’s – Thomas Ligotti
The Chimney – Ramsey Campbell
The Vending Machine – Mark Lukens
The Glamour of the Snow – Algernon Blackwood
At the Mountains of Madness – HP Lovecraft
The Yattering and Jack – Clive Barker
Books:
Who Goes There – John W. Campbell
Storm of the Century – Stephen King
The Shining- Stephen King
Winter Wake – Rick Hatula
A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
Dead of Winter – Brian Moreland
Snow – Ronald Malfi
NOS4A2 – Joe Hill
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If you have any more suggestions, leave them in the comments.
I would love to know your favorite winter theme horror stories…and I’ll add them to the list.
parlor of horror 
The Shining is still my no. 1 favorite. Love this list!
cold, snow, isolation, it’s creepy even before you add in ghosts and a murderous psychosis 🙂
Great list! I’ve read A Christmas Carol every year (almost) since I was 13; it’s my all-time favorite book. The Shining (or Shinning, according to The Simpsons) is still on my list of scariest-ever books
…and I hit “send” too soon (I blame my phone).
I used to read Anne Rice’s The Witching Hour every January, but I haven’t done that for a couple years. (I’m not a *huge* fan of Rice, but I’m a sucker for a haunted house story, and that book is one that I really do love.)
Again, great list! 🙂 Thanks for the recommendations. 🙂
I never read The Witching Hour. I need to check that out, I love haunted house stories.
Ashamed I haven’t read more of these, but you’ve hit two of my absolute favorites–“The Wendigo” and “Mountains of Madness”–and one I consider a flawed gem–the immensely influential “Who Goes There?”
Since you are familiar with The Windego and blackwood’s style, you should seek out, Glamour of the Snow. They were both in the Best of.. collection I had purchased a few years back but you may be able to find the story on the internet somewhere. Just curious, why do you consider ‘Who Goes There’ a ‘flawed’ gem?
I think the story was intelligent, original (the influence of Lovecraft is impossible to deny, but Campbell took it in his own direction) and influential, but I don’t think that Campbell was a good commander of language (I’ve read some other sci fi of his, which was original but unsophisticated). “Who Goes There?” is a first-tier plot presented by a second-tier storyteller, but it’s still a classic.