We asked a handful of New Zealand writers for some recommended Halloween reading. Here’s what they said.

Lee Murray

For those folks who insist they don’t read horror, Halloween is a great opportunity to test the waters and broaden our definition of horror. People are often surprised to learn that the genre isn’t all axe murderers, spatter and B-movies. For example, Catherine’s Chidgey’s much acclaimed literary title, The Axeman’s Carnival, reads to me as a modern, dark fairy tale of domestic violence and abuse fuelled by our Kiwi notions of masculinity. Individual fears differ depending on our background, our beliefs, and our context. What frightens us here in Aotearoa? Remains to be Told: Dark Tales of Aotearoa [edited by Lee Murray], a 2024 Sir Julius Vogel Award winner, offers a sampler of dark stories and poems by local writers, mining themes such as isolation, otherness, and colonialism.

Painted by Kirsten McKenzie. I devoured this book in a single sitting. McKenzie is our own Ann Radcliffe. In her novel Painted, an art appraiser tasked with assessing the personal collection of a recluse discovers a dark secret in the artwork. With undercurrents of abuse and grief, this suspenseful contemporary haunted house tale is the perfect Halloween gothic horror read.

A Pound of Flesh by Sydney Hunter. After a messy divorce, a middle-aged Auckland woman splashes out on an exclusive spa experience deep in our Aotearoa bush, where she plans to lose a few pounds and emerge to a new life as a triumphant butterfly. Only, The Vale isn’t what it seems, and she risks losing more than just a few pounds… This thriller-killer tale delivers both horror and humour along with a sharp dose of social commentary on the beauty industry. Fun and shocking in equal measure. I absolutely loved this.

The Ghosts of … series by Sue Copsey. If you’re looking for a spooky read for the kids, you can’t go past Sue Copsey’s series of Kiwi ghost tales. The Ghosts of Young Nick’s Head, The Ghosts of Tarawera, and The Ghosts of Moonlight Creek are fast-paced contemporary adventures, set right here at home, filled with likeable characters, local legends, and great Kiwi context. For a fun family Halloween night, grab the set, light a candle, and read together in the dark.

Lee Murray is a writer, editor, poet and screenwriter from Aotearoa New Zealand, a Shirley Jackson Award and five-time Bram Stoker Award® winner. She is author of Fox Spirit on a Distant Cloud. Murray was awarded the New Zealand Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Fiction in 2023, the first author of Asian descent to achieve this. 

Tabatha Wood

Never Whistle at Night, an Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. VanAlst Jr. An outstanding collection of indigenous horror by some of the finest voices in the genre. A wide range of popular horror tropes meet deeply powerful cultural and sociological introspectives. Gender roles, colonisation, and intergenerational trauma are woven into 26 tales of terror that put a brand new spin on lore, legends and supernatural beasts. Stand out stories: Dead Owls by Mona Susan Power, The Scientist’s Horror Story by Darcie Little Badger and White Hills by Rebecca Roanhorse. 

In These Hallowed Halls, a Dark Academia Anthology edited by Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. Twelve stories by an intriguing mix of authors exploring horror in a deeply unsettling academic setting. The haunting disappearance of an esteemed professor, a mysterious hidden locked door, a sinister secret society: there is something lurking in the halls for everyone. Stand out stories: Phobos by Tori Bovalino, The Professor of Ontography by Helen Grant and X House by J.T. Ellison

Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley (a novella). A truly chilling gothic folk horror story set in the desolate Yorkshire Dales. A tale that deals with the devastating loss of a child and a dark secret that should stay buried. Unsettling and impeccably written, it leaves you wondering which horror is the more real: the unending desolation of grief or the terrifying Jack Grey and the Beacons. 

Tabatha Wood is a two-time award-winning Deaf author of dark, speculative fiction and narrative poetry. See their work on Smashwords and on Tabatha’s website. 

Owen Marshall

Flannery O’Connor‘s short story, A Good Man Is Hard To Find. This story has always stayed with me. The only monsters and apparitions are human, and the matter-of-fact style heightens our awareness of the terrible things people are capable of. It’s a story rich in nuances of interpretation and challenges concerning morality and human nature.

Owen Marshall is one of Aotearoa’s greatest short story writers. His story Coming Home in the Dark was translated in to film by James Ashcroft, and is one of Stephen King’s scariest films of 2024. 

Pip Adam

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This book is such an amazing example of the political potential of genre fiction. Spoiler: The true horror is whiteness and colonialism. But also mushrooms – scary, scary mushrooms.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova. This is the book I’m really looking forward to reading over Halloween. I love Gerardo Sámano Córdova’s short story ‘Jeremy’ and can’t wait to read a whole novel by him. Monster stories are my happy place.

Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor. More true crime but still horrifying and incredibly moving, this book is one I revisit most years. Spoiler: The true horror is colonialism and hate of difference. The violences we do each other in the context of the violences the power structures do to us.

Pip Adam is the author of novels Audition, The New Animals, Nothing to SEe, and I’m Working on a Building which is being re-released on 7 November. Adam is also host of the podcast Better Off Read. 

Cassie Hart

The Honeys by Ryan La Sala. This is a cloying, lurid, nightmare of a book about trauma and grief, family, friends, belonging, identity, primarily set at a summer retreat. While it’s YA, it doesn’t pull any punches, and the audio version is extra delicious with extra sound effects. 

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. A a tome of a book with neat formatting. I think it’s about three layers deep – a story within a story within a story – and just so good. I love a good house horror and I want to wander these halls too. I invite you to go and get lost in them. 

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. A classic. Brilliant, creepy, delicious. I love some isolation horror, and familial horror too. If you haven’t read this yet, you definitely should. 

Cassie Hart is the author of Butcherbird, and under the name J.C. Hart has written many books.