John Langan books

John Langan is an American horror and dark fiction author known for The Fisherman and his short story collections, as well as a prolific editor of horror anthologies including the Bluford High young adult series.

Anthologies

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories 1996 Buy
Fantasy: The Best of 2002 2003 Buy
Poe: 19 New Tales of Suspense, Dark Fantasy, and Horror Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe 2008 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two 2010 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010 Edition 2010 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three 2011 Buy
Supernatural Noir 2011 Buy
The Book of Cthulhu 2011 Buy
Ghosts by Gaslight 2011 Buy
Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters 2011 Buy
Best New Horror 22 2011 Buy
The Recent Weird 2011 Buy
New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird 2011 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four 2012 Buy
Mammoth Books presents Monsters in Our Midst 2012 Buy
Ghosts: Recent Hauntings 2012 Buy
A Season in Carcosa 2012 Buy
The Grimscribe’s Puppets 2013 Buy
Lovecraft and Influence: His Predecessors and Successors 2013 Buy
Shadows Edge 2013 Buy
After Death… 2013 Buy
Chewing the Page: The Mourning Goats Interviews 2013 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2013 Edition 2013 Buy
Fearful Symmetries 2014 Buy
The Children of Old Leech 2014 Buy
Shock Totem 9.5: Holiday Tales of the Macabre and Twisted - Halloween 2014 2014 Buy
The Starry Wisdom Library 2014 Buy
The Power of Love 2015 Buy
New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird 2015 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven 2015 Buy
Aickman’s Heirs 2015 Buy
Giallo Fantastique 2015 Buy
The Monstrous 2015 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight 2016 Buy
Children of Lovecraft 2016 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten 2018 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven 2019 Buy
Edited By 2020 Buy
Weird World War III 2020 Buy
Under Twin Suns 2021 Buy
When Things Get Dark 2021 Buy
Revelations 2022 Buy
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror 2022 Buy
Screams from the Dark 2022 Buy
Chiral Mad 5 2022 Buy
Christmas and Other Horrors 2023 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fifteen 2024 Buy
Heartwood 2024 Buy
All Hallows Eve 2026 Buy

Best Horror of the Year Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One 2009 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two 2010 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine 2017 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four 2012 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five 2013 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six 2014 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven 2015 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Twelve 2020 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight 2016 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten 2018 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three 2011 Buy
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction 2018 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen 2021 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven 2019 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen 2022 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fifteen 2024 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen 2024 Buy
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Seventeen 2025 Buy

Bluford High Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Secrets in the Shadows 2002 Buy
The Gun 2002 Buy
Someone to Love Me 2002 Buy
The Bully 2002 Buy
A Matter of Trust 2002 Buy
Lost and Found 2002 Buy
Until We Meet Again 2002 Buy
Blood Is Thicker 2004 Buy
Brothers in Arms 2004 Buy
Summer of Secrets 2004 Buy
Shattered 2006 Buy
Search for Safety 2006 Buy
The Fallen 2006 Buy
No Way Out 2008 Buy
Schooled 2008 Buy
Breaking Point 2010 Buy
The Test 2010 Buy
Pretty Ugly 2010 Buy
Survivor 2013 Buy
Promises to Keep 2013 Buy
Girls Like Me 2015 Buy
The Chosen 2020 Buy
Alone 2021 Buy
On the Run 2025 Buy

Graphic Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Masque of the Red Death: Fine Art Edition - Buy

Short Story Collections

Title Published Buy on Amazon
Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters 2008 Buy
The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies 2013 Buy
Sefira and Other Betrayals 2019 Buy
Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies 2022 Buy
Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions 2025 Buy

Standalone Novels

Title Published Buy on Amazon
House of Windows 2009 Buy
The Fisherman 2016 Buy
Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies 2020 Buy

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror Reading Order

Title Published Buy on Amazon
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2015 Edition 2015 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010 Edition 2010 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2011 Edition 2011 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, 2012 Edition 2012 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2016 Edition 2016 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2017 Edition 2017 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2014 Edition 2014 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2018 Edition 2018 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2013 Edition 2013 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2019 Edition 2020 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 1 2020 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 2 2021 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume 3 2022 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 4 2023 Buy
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 5 2024 Buy

John Langan is a horror writer whose work ranges from short fiction to novels to anthology editing. His novel The Fisherman (2016) is widely regarded as one of the best horror novels of the 2010s, weaving a cosmic horror story through the frame of two widowers who go fishing in an upstate New York creek with a dark history. His earlier novel, House of Windows (2009), also explored the horror genre through literary fiction techniques.

Langan’s short story collections, starting with Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (2008), have established him as one of the most respected short fiction writers working in horror today. The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (2013), Sefira and Other Betrayals (2019), and Corpsemouth and Other Autobiographies (2022) each contain stories that blend literary ambition with genuine dread.

Beyond his own fiction, Langan is a prolific editor and contributor to the horror anthology scene. He co-edits The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror series and has appeared in dozens of anthologies. He also writes the Bluford High series, a long-running young adult series set in an inner-city high school, which shows a completely different side of his writing range.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books has John Langan written?

John Langan has written 115 books across seven series.

What was John Langan's first book?

John Langan’s first book is Classic Victorian & Edwardian Ghost Stories, published in 1996.

What is John Langan's most acclaimed novel?

The Fisherman (2016) is John Langan’s most acclaimed novel. It won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel and has become one of the most recommended modern horror novels among genre readers.

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