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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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