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The Dark Descent Books in Order
Below you'll find the complete list of The Dark Descent books in publication order. This is generally the recommended reading order for the series.
Reading order verified: April 2026
Quick Answer
What order should I read the The Dark Descent series? Start with "The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series II" (1972) and follow publication order through all 229 books.
The complete The Dark Descent reading order is listed below in publication sequence.
Publication Order

The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series II
1972

The Year's Best Horror Stories No. 3
1973

Great Black Magic Stories
1974

The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror
1975

Jack the Knife: Tales of Jack the Ripper
1975

Star Book of Horror No. 1
1975

Nameless Places
1975

Beyond Midnight
1976

The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series IV
1976

Disciples of Cthulhu
1976

Cold Fear
1977

Whispers
1977

Rivals Of Dracula
1977

The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 4
1978

The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series VI
1978

New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
1980

New Terrors
1980

New Terrors Vol. 1
1980

Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror
1980

New Terrors II
1980

Scaremongers
1981

65 Great Spine Chillers
1982

The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XI
1983

The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XII
1984

Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King
1986

Halloween Horrors
1986

Cutting Edge
1986

Tales From the Forbidden Planet
1987

Gaslight & Ghosts
1988

First Annual Collection
1988

Barbarians 2
1988

Hunger for Horror
1988

Demons & Dreams: The Best Fantasy and Horror 1
1988

Book of the Dead
1989

Hot Blood Tales of Erotic Horror
1989

Second Annual Collection
1989

Third Annual Collection
1989

Dark Fantasies
1989

The Year's Best Fantasy 2 / Demons and Dreams
1990

Dark Voices 2
1990

Best New Horror
1990

Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield
1990

Now We Are Sick
1991

Dark Voices 3
1991

Best New Horror 2
1991

Darklands No 1
1991

Cold Blood
1991

Taboo #5
1991

The Architecture of Fear
1991

Borderlands 4
1991

Best New Horror 3
1992

The Mammoth Book of Vampires
1992

Fifth Annual Collection
1992
The Giant Book of Zombies
1993

Deathport
1993

The Giant Book of Best New Horror
1993

100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories
1993

Best New Horror 4
1993

The Mammoth Book of Zombies
1993

The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein
1994

The Anthology of Fantasy and the Supernatural
1994

Cthulhu's Heirs
1994

The Giant Book of Terror
1994

The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft
1994

Sea-Cursed
1994

The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men / The Mammoth Book of Werewolves
1994

100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories
1995

100 Wicked Little Witch Stories
1995

Best New Horror 6
1995

Cthulhu 2000
1995

Tales from Tartarus
1995

Dark Terrors
1995

Dark Terrors 2
1996

Giant Book of Fantasy Tales
1996

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 7
1996

Dark of the Night
1997

Dark Terrors 3
1997

100 Fiendish Little Frightmares
1997

Millenium
1997

The Mammoth Book of Dracula
1997

Crimes of Passion
1997

Hot Blood X
1998

Dark Terrors 4
1998

The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings
1998

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 9
1998

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 10
1999

Dark Terrors 5
2000

Swords Against the Millennium
2000

October Dreams
2000

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, #11
2000

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, #12
2001

Fourteenth Annual Collection
2001

Keep Out The Night
2002

Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 13
2002

Dark Terrors 6
2002

Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores
2002

Beneath The Ground
2002

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 14
2003

Gathering the Bones
2003

Vivisections
2003

The Dark: New Ghost Stories
2003

The Fear Within
2003

Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection
2003

The Mammoth Book of New Terror
2004

Great Ghost Stories
2004

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15
2004

Poe's Progeny
2005

Dark Delicacies
2005

Lost on the Darkside: Voices From The Edge of Horror
2005

Best New Horror 16
2005

Corpse Blossoms
2005

Shrouded by Darkness: Tales of Terror
2006

Read by Dawn, Vol. 1
2006

Best New Horror 17
2006

Best New Horror 18
2007

Summer Chills
2007

The Mammoth Book of Monsters
2007

Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad
2008

The New Uncanny
2008

Best New Horror 19
2008

The Best of Cemetery Dance II
2008

Dancing with the Dark
2009

Best New Horror 20
2009

Dead Souls
2009

The Dead That Walk
2009

Curse of the Full Moon: A Werewolf Anthology
2010

Haunted Legends
2010

Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror
2010

Black Spiral Twisted Tales of TERROR
2010

Never Again
2010

Best New Horror 21
2010

The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010 Edition
2010

The End of the Line
2010

Visitants
2010

Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead
2011

A Book of Horrors
2011

Full Fathom Forty
2011

Stranger by Night
2011

Dead Bait 2
2011

The Book of Cthulhu
2011

Best New Horror 22
2011

Horror for the Holidays
2011

Rage Against the Night
2011

Cut Corners Volume 1
2012

The Devil's Coattails
2012

The Mammoth Book of Body Horror
2012

Horror for Good
2012

A Feast of Frights from The Horror Zine
2012

Four For Fear
2012

Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
2012

Mammoth Books Presents The Unexpected
2012

Mammoth Books presents A Ghostly Gathering
2012

Best New Horror 23
2012

The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
2013

Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth
2013

Zombies!: Tales of the Walking Dead
2013

Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny
2013

Memoryville Blues: A Postscripts Anthology 30/31
2013

Tales of Jack the Ripper
2013

Fearie Tales
2013

Flotsam Fantastique: The Souvenir Book of World Fantasy Convention 2013
2013

Best New Horror 24
2013

Beware the Dark #1
2013

Fresh Fear
2013

Chiral Mad 2
2013

Best New Horror 25
2014

Fossil Lake
2014

Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
2014

Horror 101: The Way Forward
2014

Cursed Curiosities
2014

Suspended In Dusk
2014

The Starry Wisdom Library
2014

Shadows Over Main Street
2015

Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 1
2015

Best New Horror #26
2015

Horrorology
2015

Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol. 1
2015

Gutted
2016

Darker Terrors 7
2016

Chiral Mad 3
2016

In the Shadow of Frankenstein
2016

The Beauty of Death
2016

Grave Predictions
2016

Ten Tall Tales: And Twisted Limericks
2016

The Madness of Dr. Caligari
2016

Floppy Shoes Apocalypse 2: Cherry Nose Armageddon
2016

Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders
2017

Dark Places, Evil Faces
2017

New Fears
2017

Below the Stairs: Tales from the Cellar
2017

In the Footsteps of Dracula
2017

The Beauty of Death, Vol. 2
2017

Behind the Mask - Tales from the Id
2018

Dark Discoveries - Issue #38
2018

Beyond the Infinite: Tales from the Outer Reaches
2018

Suspended in Dusk II
2018

The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories
2018

The Black Room Manuscripts, Volume Four
2018

The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors
2018

This Dreaming Isle
2018

The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories
2019

Best New Horror 29
2019

Mannequin: Tales of Wood Made Flesh
2019

Terrifying Tales to Tell at Night
2019

Urban Crime Short Stories
2019

Nowhereville
2019

Lovecraft Mythos New & Classic Collection
2020

The Horror Writer: A Study of Craft and Identity in the Horror Genre
2020

Miscreations
2020

Stories of Hope and Wonder: In Support of UK's Healthcare Workers
2020

The Horror Collection: Emerald Edition
2020

Best New Horror #30
2020

The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror
2021

Out of the Ruins: The Apocalyptic Anthology
2021

Best New Horror #31
2021

Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the MostHaunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World
2021

From The Depths
2021

The Horror Zine’s Book of Werewolf Stories
2022

Revelations
2022

Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror
2022

Close to Midnight
2022

13 Haunted Houses
2023

Literally Dead: Book 1
2023

Reports from the Deep End
2023

Strange Tales of Terror
2023

Nightmare Abbey 5
2024

Nature Triumphs
2024

Spook City
2024

You're Not Alone in the Dark
2024
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