Adult Queer Horror Books for Pride Month
Dark, gothic, brutal, or beautiful, these adult queer horror novels tackle grief, revenge, identity, and transformation with blood and teeth. If you like your horror smart, twisted, and unapologetically queer, this is your reading list.
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Sapphic Adult Horror
The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling
A besieged castle. Mysterious godlike saviors. Cannibal feasts and unhinged ecstasy. Three women unravel divine horror and tangled alliances in this fever-dream medieval gothic from the author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.
Grab The Starving Saints on Amazon
Lucy Undying by Amber McBride
Lucy Westenra escaped Dracula but his shadow still follows her. Now in modern-day London, Lucy finds new love in Iris, even as old horrors awaken. A seductive, vengeful, and deeply queer retelling full of gothic fantasy and romance.
House of Hunger by Alexis Henderson
Marion answers a bloodmaid job listing and ends up in a gothic house where nobles drink blood like wine. With a cruel mistress and dangerous secrets, Marion’s only way out might be through. Sharp, sapphic, and sensuous horror.
Grab House of Hunger on Amazon
Voice Like a Hyacinth by Alexandra Grunberg
Five art students perform a curse on their professor to boost their creativity, and now something is haunting them. Ritual, obsession, and queer martyrdom meet in this dark, layered tale of ambition and consequence.
Grab Voice Like a Hyacinth on Amazon
Hungerstone by Kat Dunn
A gothic reimagining of Carmilla set in the industrial revolution. When Lenore meets the enigmatic Carmilla, desire clashes with dread and soon village girls are dying of a mysterious hunger. Feminist, sapphic, and blood-soaked.
Gay Adult Horror
A History of Fear by Luke Dumas
Grayson Hale confesses to murder, claiming the Devil made him do it. As we read his found manuscript, we’re pulled into paranoia, possession, and a chilling gothic mystery set in Edinburgh.
Grab A History of Fear on Amazon
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo
Andrew investigates his best friend’s death at Vanderbilt and finds ghosts, literal and metaphorical lurking in academia, street racing, and Southern queer grief. Queer gothic horror meets Southern Gothic angst.
A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock
Two Victorian men attempt to create intelligent plant life and accidentally birth something far more dangerous. Frankenstein meets fungal horror in this charming, gruesome, and delightfully queer debut.
Grab A Botanical Daughter on Amazon
The Haunting of William Thorn by Ben Alderson
After his partner’s death, William inherits a crumbling manor haunted by a malevolent spirit and a tragic queer history. A romantic, grief-heavy, and spine-chilling ghost story for fans of The Haunting of Hill House.
Grab The Haunting of William Thorn on Amazon
Trans / Nonbinary Adult Horror
Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt
Three years ago, Alice entered a haunted house with her friends. Now she’s spiraling and the house wants her back. A brutal, political, and unflinching exploration of trauma through trans horror.
Grab Tell Me I’m Worthless on Amazon
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
In 1920s Appalachia, a trans nurse arrives in a small town full of secrets, violence, and something ancient in the woods. This is historical horror with sharp teeth and even sharper commentary.
Grab The Woods All Black on Amazon
Queer / Bi / Asexual Adult Horror
The Black Hunger by Nicholas Pullen
John Sackville is dying in a prison cell, haunted by love, grief, and an ancient evil. Gothic horror with slow-building dread, occult mysteries, and queer longing buried in snow and stone circles.
Grab The Black Hunger on Amazon
Diavola by Jennifer Thorne
Anna joins her family on a tense vacation to an Italian villa, only for things to go full haunted-house-hellscape. A horror comedy of familial dysfunction with queer themes and supernatural flair.
FAQ: Adult Queer Horror Edition
What themes are common in queer horror?
Queer horror often explores identity, desire, power, grief, and transformation. These stories lean into what it means to be ‘othered’—sometimes literally.
Are these books explicit?
Some are. Adult queer horror doesn’t shy away from gore, sex, or psychological intensity. Check content warnings or reviews for specifics.
Are there happy endings?
Not always. But there’s beauty in the ambiguity, the rage, the survival, even in the tragedy. And sometimes, yes, love wins.
Is queer horror a new trend?
Not at all. From Carmilla to Clive Barker, queerness has long haunted horror. Today’s authors are just making it loud, proud, and terrifying on purpose.
Final Thoughts: Why Adult Queer Horror Hits So Hard
Adult queer horror lets us see ourselves in the monstrous and the miraculous. These stories hold space for rage, for longing, for complicated identities that bite back. Whether it’s in the depths of haunted houses or blood-soaked gardens, horror gives queer characters the stage, and sometimes, the knife.
Drop your favorites in the comments. Want more creepy recs?
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