I’ve been a member of the Nosleep writing community for years now. In this time, I had the good fortune to meet and get to know many of the best Nosleep writers. On this page I want to give you an overview of the Nosleep writers whose works I adore, who I got to know in my many years on the platform and whose work I’d recommend to anyone. If you’re looking for more Nosleep content, check out my list of the best Nosleep stories and Nosleep series.
C.K. Walker has been published by Jitter Press, The Altar Collective, and Thought Catalog. Her stories have been adapted for audio by Chilling Tales for Dark Nights and the NoSleep Podcast.
Nick Botic is an award-winning published author from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His genre casts a wide net ensnaring topics from the paranormal, to supernatural; from threats unbelievable to those very real.
Blair Daniels is one of my favorite Nosleep writers and started posting her short horror stories to Reddit’s NoSleep community in 2017. In her free time she enjoys raising backyard chickens, playing Minecraft, and going to Costco. She lives with her husband and son in a rural part of the US.
Christopher Maxim is a horror fiction writer whose works are akin to plots found in episodes of The Twilight Zone and Tales From The Darkside. He’s published several books, and his stories have been narrated on YouTube, where they’ve collectively garnered millions of views. He currently resides in a capeside town in New England, a common setting for most of his unique and bone-chilling narratives.
J.D. McGregor is a Canadian horror and mystery author residing in Toronto, Ontario. Much of his writing was composed while travelling solo and abroad, something he can often be found doing, working or not. His works have been published by DimensionBucket and Haunted House Publishing LLC, as well as adapted for audio by the NoSleep Podcast and Scary Stories Told in the Dark.
Scott Savino enjoys long trespassive walks on private property in the dark with his dog Max. He enjoys jumping away from non-aggressive shadows, baking, and staring menacingly down through upper-floor windows. He has a terrible memory but amidst all of lifes’ horrors he is reminded of what love feels like, every time he see’s that man’s face.
Penny Tailsup is an author and narrator from Alaska: the perfect place to write horror; the winters are cold and dark…and the sun never seems to set in the summer. Penny’s writing pursuits delve into fantasy, romance, poetry and science-fiction.
Kelvin Teo has always been fascinated with the unknown. No other genre has intrigued him more than horror. He believe that all of us are innately curious about what lies on the other side, however hard we try to deny it.
Pat Francis alies ByfelsDisicple shares his brain with a melange of characters who come to life in his fiction writing. Click the link to find out where they live.
While I’m predominantly a horror writer, science fiction is a genre that has always been close to my heart. I’m especially fond of cyberpunk and space operas. Over the course of the years, I’ve read countless science fiction novels. That’s why I put together a list of the, in my opinion, best science fiction books of all time.
I wholeheartedly recommend any of the books on this list, and any science fiction fan should check them out. If you’re looking for more science-fiction recommendations, make sure to check out my list of books like Dune and my list of Dystopian books.
As I mentioned before, I’m a huge fan of space operas. The Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov is as good as it gets. It’s one of the most popular and one of the best science fiction books of all time.
However, the books aren’t so much novels, but collections of short stories. These short stories detail the fall of the Galactic Empire and chronicle the rise of the Foundation by the help of the so-called Seldon Plan.
What I found most interesting was that the stories in the Foundation Trilogy focused more on clover plots by characters and the aftermath of space battles than actual action.
While some of the stories can be a bit on the weaker side, the longer stories in book two and three more than make up for it. The Mule might be my favorite science fiction story of all time.
If you enjoy science fiction, I highly recommend you check out the Foundation Trilogy. These books are without science fiction classics and amongst the best science fiction books out there.
Philip K. Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
As I mentioned, cyberpunk is another sub-genre of science fiction I enjoy immensely. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick is regarded as one of the first cyberpunk novels ever written.
The novel is set in a dark, post-apocalyptic future. In the novel, the titular androids, called replicants, are banned on Earth and used as cheap labor on Mars. The story focuses on a man named Rick Deckard, a bounty-hunter tasked with finding and killing six replicants who fled Mars.
The novel discusses several philosophical topics, such as what it means to be human. It also paints a very grim picture of our future.
It’s a fantastic read, and in my opinion not only Philip K. Dick best work but also one of the best science fiction books of all time.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is the proto science fiction novel. The book differs from its depiction in popular media. It focuses in huge parts on the story of Victor Frankenstein. It’s interesting to learn more about the character, and the novel paints him in a much more sympathetic light and doesn’t depict him as a mad scientist. I also came to enjoy many of the pseudo-scientific talk during the early parts of the novel and found them quite intriguing.
The weaker parts of the book are the ones which focus on the creature, its reasoning, and how it learns more about our world and the people inhabiting it. While those parts were interesting, they dragged on a bit too much for my liking. This, however, is the only criticism I have of Frankenstein.
Overall, Frankenstein is a fantastic read and considered a classic for a reason. I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in the true story of Frankenstein, and people who are interested in the earlier days of science fiction.
Frank Miller’s Dune is not only one of the best science fiction books of all time but also one of the most popular. I first got interested in the world of Dune and science fiction when I watched David Lynch’s adaption of the novel.
Years later, I read Frank Herbert’s novel, and I thought it was fantastic. The greatest part about a novel is without a doubt the world building. I was drawn in by the galactic power structures, the different houses and the religious background so prevalent in the novel.
There were also some interesting ideas discussed in the book, especially considering ecological topics.
Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, whose family accepts stewardship of the planet Arrakis, the only source of spice in the entire universe. The plot of the novel explores various topics, but focuses on a power struggle between different factions over control of Arrakis and its spice.
While I enjoyed the novel’s plot, it wasn’t extraordinary. What stuck out to me though was the fantastic world building.
Overall, Dune is a book that’s popular for a reason and while I found the plot somewhat lacking, it’s still amongst the best science fiction books I read.
Rendezvous with Rama was the first novel by Arthur C. Clarke, I read. The book differed completely from what I’d expected and was strange, but in a good way. There’s not a lot of action, and it’s not your typical space novel.
The story begins when a cylindrical alien starship enters the Solar System. The story is then told from the point of view of a group of human explorers who enter the ship to uncover its mysteries.
Rendezvous with Rama is a book that mostly focuses on conveying interesting ideas and deeper themes. While it’s a quick read, it’s also a very interesting read.
While this book might not be for everyone, I still recommend it to those who are looking for a different science fiction book, not focused on action.
A Scanner Darkly is another novel written by Philip K. Dick. It’s a book I like to describe as a light science fiction novel focusing heavily on drug usage and drug culture.
The story itself deals with two characters. One is Bob Actor, a junky and drug dealer who’s using and selling the mind altering substance D. Fred, on the other hand, is a law enforcement agent, working undercover and tasked with bringing down Bob. What appears to be a simple case becomes rather complicated since Bob Actor and Fred are the same person.
A Scanner Darkly explores and focuses heavily on drug culture, drug usage, and the resulting problems such as paranoia and the alteration of the human mind.
I absolutely loved this book. It’s dark, grim and depressing, but explores a lot of interesting topics. While it’s not as heavy on science fiction as the other novels on this list, I still consider it one of the best science fiction books out there.
William Gibson’s Neuromancer is one of the most popular, if not the most popular cyberpunk novel of all time. It tells the story of Case, a washed-up computer hacker hired by a mysterious employer for one last job.
Neuromancer is fantastic. It has everything you’d want from a cyberpunk novel. There are weird characters, sprawling cities, cyberspace, virtual reality and much, much more. Gibson’s world building and the entire atmosphere of the book are both great. It’s a dark, gritty and rather dystopian world, but one that feels entirely unique.
The same is true for many of the characters populating the world. They are all interesting in their own way, but also very weird.
I think Neuromancer is a book that anyone one interested in science fiction and cyberpunk should read. Especially nowadays, when many of the themes discussed in the book such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality aren’t as futuristic anymore.
Overall Neuromancer is the cyberpunk book. It presents a dark, yet interesting outlook into our future. It’s without a doubt one of the best science fiction books ever written.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman was an extremely interesting book. It started out as your typical, run-of-the-mill science fiction book. Humans met aliens, conflict emerged, and war started.
The beginning of the book was, at least to me, its weakest part. Many of the earlier chapters were spent on military training and featured the first battle against the alien antagonist.
After this relatively weak beginning, the book became far better and explored a variety of complex themes. I will spoil nothing, but I’m going to say that getting through the first part of the book was more than worth it. So much so, that rest made it one of the best science fiction books of all time. I was honestly floored by how good a book it was.
While the Forever War is a space opera, I considered the battles one of its weaker elements. While they were much more realistic than those depicted in other novels, they were also not as exciting as I’d wished.
Overall, I highly recommend this book to people who are interested in space operas and those interested in military fiction.
I was a big fan of the movie Starship Troopers ever since I was a teenager. When I finally got around to read Robert A. Heinlein’s novel, it turned out vastly different from what I’d expected.
I’d thought it would be an action-packed science fiction novel, but it was a much deeper and more complex book. Many parts in the book were devoted to discuss Heinlein’s future society, military doctrine and training. While the book had its scenes of brutal action, they weren’t the focus.
Still, I believe Starship Troopers is one of the best science fiction books out there, even if some of Heinlein’s ideas can be questionable. I’d recommend this book to anyone who likes science fiction, military fiction, and fans of the movie.
Haruki Murakami – Hardboiled-Wonderland and the End of the World
Haruki Murakami’s novels are a mixed bag to me. While I enjoyed some of them, I came to dislike others. Hardboiled-Wonderland and the End of the World, however, is fantastic.
The book’s split between two narratives, both weird and bizarre in their own right.
One of them is set in the future. Our protagonist is a ‘Calcutec,’ a human who can encrypt data without a computer, by using his brain. The story starts out with him being sent down into the Tokyo sewers. The second narrative is more bizarre and set in a strange, isolated town in a fantastical world.
There’s not much more I can say about this book without giving too much away. Hardboiled-Wonderland and the End of the World is as weird as you’d expect it to be, but it’s also one of the best science fiction books I’ve ever read.
If you’re a fan of science fiction and weird literature, I highly recommend giving this book a try.
I read the Otherland series by Tad Williams as a teenager, and I absolutely loved it. It’s a series that got me interested in virtual reality, virtual worlds, and anything related to it.
The series is set in the future at the end of the twenty-first century. Large chunks of the novel are set in virtual reality.
The story’s protagonist is a young woman named Irene Sulaweyo who’s working as a VR programming instructor. When her brother Stephen falls into a coma after visiting a forbidden club in the Net, she and her friend !Xabbu decide to investigate.
During her investigations she discovers strange goings-on in the Net, including an evil hypnotic entity and the constant reappearance of a mysterious golden city.
This sets in motion events spanning four books, including countless characters and various narratives. Because of the virtual reality nature of the book, our characters visit a vast array of settings, all equally interesting.
I absolutely loved the virtual worlds depicted in the series and the sprawling, complex plot. It’s one of my favorite book series of all time, and the books are definitely amongst the best science fiction books of all time.
I highly recommend this series to anyone who’s looking for a long, complex science fiction series and those who are interested in virtual reality and virtual worlds.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley is one of the most popular dystopian novels and always compared to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eight-Four. In my opinion, however, Brave New world is the superior of the two.
The novel details a society in which people are not born, but engineered through artificial wombs. Each person goes through childhood indoctrination before they are put into predetermined casts based on intelligence and labor.
Our protagonist, Bernard Marx, is a member of the higher caste who disapproves of society and its methods. The plot, however, only truly starts when Bernard and a woman named Lenina Crowne visit a Savage Reservation. It’s there that they meet John, a young man who born naturally and who grew up at the reservation.
What makes Brave New World so interesting is that the depicted society might be called a Utopia. People are happy, live peacefully, and there’s no war. However, it all comes at a cost.
While Nineteen Eighty-Four depicts an omnipresent police state that keeps its citizens in check via mass surveillance, Brave New World outlines an entirely different scenario. It is one I personally find much more realistic and thus more terrifying.
The novel itself is fantastically written, ripe with scientific background and populated by interesting characters. It’s without a doubt one of the greatest dystopian novels and one of the best science fiction books of all time.
As a horror writer, it’s only natural for me to read the works of other horror writers. It’s not only that though, I’m also a huge fan of anything that’s disturbing, scary or downright weird. That’s why I put together a list of the best horror books I’ve read.
Over the years, I came to enjoy the works of many horror writers. I’m especially fond of the weird fiction of such writers as H. P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti, the convention breaking works of Mark. Z. Danielewski or the graphical horrors conjured by Japanese mangaka Junji Ito.
This list, however, doesn’t just focus on their works. Horror is a vast genre, and there are many books out there.
I consider all the books on this list amongst the best horror books ever written and recommend them to any fan of horror literature.
H.P. Lovecraft – The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft
Let’s start this list with my favorite horror writers of all time, H. P. Lovecraft. This collection includes every single story Lovecraft has written in his life, and this alone makes it one of the best horror books of all time.
Lovecraft is one of the most influential horror writers of all time and the father of cosmic horror.
Ever since I first discovered Lovecraft, I’ve been a huge fan of his body of work and the genre of cosmic horror.
Lovecraft’s body of work consists of three major phases. The first are stories akin to his literary predecessors and major influences such as Lord Dunsany and Edgar Allan Poe. These stories can be best described as short scares or twisted tales and are all around enjoyable.
The second phase comprises his Dream Cycle writings. Most of them are merely brief glimpses into a dream world instead of fleshed out stories. The longest of these works ‘The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath’ is one of Lovecraft’s most colorful and creative works, but also one of his most confusing and ultimately his blandest.
My favorites amongst Lovecraft’s works are his latest tales, his cosmic horror works related to the Cthulhu Mythos. These stories aren’t merely about creatures stalking mankind or revengeful ghosts. No, they featured a sort of terror and fear that was entirely new at the time.
It’s here that Lovecraft’s mastery of the horror shines as he presents us with all-powerful cosmic entities, alien races and Earth’s disturbing prehuman history.
If you want to learn more about Lovecraft’s stories in detail, I urge you to check out my article about the best Lovecraft stories.
One thing that has to be said about Lovecraft is that his writing style is not for everyone. His prose is flowery, at times pretentious and old-fashioned. It takes some time to get used to, but it’s worthwhile.
Lovecraft, like almost no other writer, has influenced and changed the horror genre. That’s the reason I consider The Complete Fiction of H. P. Lovecraft essential reading for any horror fan and one of the best horror books of all time.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski is a horror book that almost everyone talked about when it was first released. It’s by many considered one of the best horror books of the early 21th century and I can’t help but agree.
The book is so popular because of how weird it is. It’s not only the plot or the idea behind it, but the entire structure and even the unconventional formatting of the book.
House of Leaves is set up as a non-fiction book written by an old man named Zampanó. The topic of this non-fiction narrative is the so-called Navidson Record, a fake documentary.
The Navidson Record details the events that took place in a house that was bigger on the inside than the outside.
Accompanying this already weird narrative are the notes of a man named Johnny Truant who found Zampanó’s manuscript. Over the course of the book, Johnny’s notes become more and more confusing.
I think it’s this structure that sets House of Leaves apart, and it would already be enough to make it one of the best horror books of all time.
Yet, what makes this book even more interesting is the unconventional formatting. The longer the book goes on and the weirder things get the stranger the formatting becomes. At times you’ll find only a few words on a page, on other occasions, the text can be upside down or mirrored. It’s an incredible experience and one that adds so much to the already uncanny effect of the book.
I loved House of Leaves. Reading this book was an experience like no other. It’s a book I can’t recommend enough to anyone interested in horror. It’s a hallmark of modern, unconventional horror and clearly one of the best horror books out there.
Edgar Allan Poe – The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
If there’s one writer more influential on the horror genre than H. P. Lovecraft and more influential on literature in general, it’s Edgar Allan Poe. He’s hailed as the father of the modern detective story, the psychological horror, but was also highly influential on such genres as science-fiction and adventure.
It’s no understatement to say that horror literature wouldn’t be the same without Edgar Allan Poe.
When I first read Poe, I thought he’d be a writer of ghost stories and gothic horrors. Instead, his tales were of unreliable narrators and mentally ill characters suffering from fears, phobias and addictions.
Poe seldom features ghastly creatures. Instead, he gives us tales of gripping psychological horror, of sick minds and the terrible deeds they commit.
Edgar Allan Poe is an amazing writer. The Tell Tale Heart and the Masque of Red Death are amongst my all-time favorite horror stories and would make an excellent addition to this list of the best horror books all on their own. It’s not simply the plot though, it’s Poe’s writing, his style. Poe is a master of the craft and his works are filled with rhythm, power, suspense and emotions.
The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe edited by Benjamin F. Fisher is one of the best, most complete collections of his work out there. It contains Poe’s most famous poems, but also a wide variety of his stories. There’s horror classics such as The Fall of House Usher and The Pit and the Pendulum, but it also includes his tales of early science-fiction, adventure and his detective fiction. Even more, it also includes Poe’s novel The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket.
Even today, many of Poe’s psychological stories still hold up and I wholeheartedly recommend his works to any horror fans. If you’re interested to learn more about Poe’s stories, I urge you to check out my article on the most terrifying tales by Edgar Allan Poe.
I urge you to read the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and I consider this collection one of the best horror books of all time.
Robert W. Chambers – The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories
The King in Yellow and Other Horror Stories by Robert W. Chambers was one of the first attempts to write stories about a nameless, unimaginable horror.
It’s one of the first books of its kind and should inspire other writers such as H. P. Lovecraft.
The book is a short story collection featuring the titular, ominous entity, the so-called King in Yellow. While the later stories in this collection aren’t horror stories, I still recommend it to anyone interested in weird fiction and the works of H. P. Lovecraft.
While the book is short, it’s an interesting and enjoyable read. The stories featuring or related to the King in Yellow were fantastic. I wholeheartedly recommend this books to fans of early weird fiction and think it’s amongst the best horror books of all times.
The Three Imposters by Arthur Machen is another example of early horror, similar to that of H. P. Lovecraft. It’s no coincidence that writer’s such as H. P. Lovecraft and Stephen King consider Machen one of their prime inspiration. He’s a master of the early weird tale and has written some of the best horror books out there.
Many of the tales in this collection can be considered early examples of weird fiction and cosmic horror. While they aren’t as pompous as the works of H. P. Lovecraft, for example, they still hold up extremely well on their own.
The Three Imposters is a fantastic little collection of weird tales and in my opinion well worth reading for any fan of horror and weird fiction.
While the book might be a quick read, I still consider it one of Machen’s best books and one of the best horror books of all time.
Wayne Barlowe is a name I will always remember. I first got to know him because of his stunning and beautiful depictions of hell. You can find most of his art on his personal website. To say they are amazing would be an understatement.
It was years later that I learned that Wayne Barlowe had written a novel set in this vision of hell.
The book stood out to me because of the astounding world building and the sheer creativity that went into it. The depiction of the demons, their appearance, their conduct and how they wage war is fantastically done.
What I also love was Barlowe’s depiction of hell as a pseudo-organic, volcanic wasteland and its various natural inhabitants.
The story of the book revolves around Sargatanas, one of the major demons of hell. He comes to despise his current existence in hell and rebels against Hell’s ruler, Beelzebub, to that he’s worthy of going back to Heaven.
The book kept me engaged till the end, and I think it stands up as one of the best horror books I read in recent years. This, however, isn’t so much because of the characters or the story, but because of the phenomenal world building.
If you’re a fan of such works as Milton’s Paradise Lost or Dante’s Divine Comedy, I urge you to give the works of Wayne Barlow a try.
Japanese mangaka Junji Ito is one of my favorite horror artists and writers of all time. The first of his works I read was Tomie, more than a decade ago. This, however, was enough to make me fall in love with his gruesome and weird blend of horror.
If you want to learn more about Junji Ito and his work, I urge you to check out my list of the best Junji Ito stories.
Uzumaki is the most popular of his many works and also one of his best.
It centers on the small, coastal town of Kurouzo-Cho, which is infested by spirals. Spiral shapes appear all over town, things take on the form of spirals, and soon enough the townsfolk grow obsessed with them. This obsession has always dire results as people are distorted, warped and changed into grotesque spiral-like shapes.
What makes Uzumaki stand out amongst a plethora of other horror works is the lack of any feasible antagonist. There’s no monster to fight, no killer to run from. No, there’s only the spiral, a concept that lingers of the town of Kurouzo-Cho as an omnipresent curse.
Junji Ito brings all this forth with his horrifying art, and in Uzumaki he’s at his absolute best. His simple black-and-white style and his precise craftsmanship bring forth the twisted cosmic horror of Uzumaki in all of its glorious detail.
Uzumaki is at the pinnacle of Japanese horror manga and Japanese horror. It’s without a doubt a hallmark in horror and one of the best horror books out there. If you’re a fan of gruesome, twisted and weird horror, I urge you to read Uzumaki.
I recently read all of Stephen King’s short story collections. While enjoyed all of them, I think Skeleton Crew is by far the best out of his six collections.
If you’re interested in learning more about King’s short story collections, you can check out my ranking of them here. Should you be interested in learning more about my thoughts on individual stories, you can check out my list of the best Stephen King short stories.
Skeleton Crew is a short story collection that has it all. It includes a fantastic array of horror stories, but also several more fantastic entries of King’s vast body of work.
The collection starts off with one of King’s most popular novellas, The Mist. However, the stories that follow are all great in their own right. The Monkey, The Raft and especially the suspenseful Gramma are all fantastic horror stories.
There’s however more to this collection. With Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut and The Jaunt, it features two of King’s more fantastical stories, but both are amongst his best work.
While there are some stories in this collection I didn’t care too much about, they were easily brushed aside by the many great entries.
Skeleton Crew is full of horror, but it’s never too broad like some of King’s other collections. It’s the best of King’s short story collections, a great entry point to King’s work and one of the best horror books of all time.
