Jack Ketchum Reading Order

50 books (1990–2024)

Jack Ketchum's Anthology series spans 42 volumes of horror and literary fiction published between 1990 and 2019. The series is now complete and should be read in publication order, beginning with Triage and continuing through works like Deadly After Dark, Vampire Detectives, Fear the Fever, and October Dreams. This comprehensive collection showcases Ketchum's contributions to various horror anthologies alongside work from other authors, offering a broad range of dark fiction across the decades.

Start with Triage, the first of 42 books in the Anthologies series.

#	Title
1	Triage 1990Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Deadly After Dark 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Vampire Detectives 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Fear the Fever 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	October Dreams 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Skull Full of Spurs 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Fourteenth Annual Collection 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Tails of Wonder and Imagination 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Shivers 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Stranger: Dark Tales of Eerie Encounters 2002Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Tales from a Darker State 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Fear of the Unknown 2005Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Masques V 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Mondo Zombie 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	In Laymon's Terms 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Jack Haringa Must Die! 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	The Best of Cemetery Dance II 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	The World Is Dead 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Zombies: Encounters with the Hungry Dead 2009Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	A Hacked-Up Holiday Massacre 2011Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
21	Chiral Mad 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
22	Fear the Abyss 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
23	Horror for Good 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
24	Psychos 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
25	Beware the Dark #1 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
26	Chiral Mad 2 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
27	Mister October, Volume II 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
28	Shock Totem 6: Curious Tales of the Macabre and Twisted 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
29	Sixty-Five Stirrup Iron Road 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
30	Turn Down the Lights 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
31	Cemetery Dance: Issue 71 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
32	Horror 101: The Way Forward 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
33	Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
34	Piercing the Darkness 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
35	Suspended In Dusk 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
36	Insidious Assassins 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
37	Beast:Revelations - A Dark Ethology - Volume 2 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
38	Cemetery Riots 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
39	Chiral Mad 3 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
40	Dark Places, Evil Faces 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
41	Garden of Fiends: Tales of Addiction Horror 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
42	Red Room Issue 1 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
43	Seas & Oceans 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
44	VS: X: US vs UK Extreme Horror 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
45	Zippered Flesh 3 2017Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
46	Chiral Mad 4 2018Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
47	A New York State of Fright: Horror Stories from the Empire State Kindle Edition 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
48	Freedom of Screech 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
49	Dark Screams: Volume Three 2021Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
50	Macabre 2024Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2011–2017)

The D.O.A. series is a complete horror anthology collection by Jack Ketchum consisting of three volumes published between 2011 and 2017. Each installment features extreme horror stories and should be read in publication order beginning with the first D.O.A., followed by D.O.A. II and DOA III. This series showcases Ketchum's work in literary horror fiction across multiple interconnected volumes.

Start with D.O.A. and read in order.

2 books (2013–2015)

Jack Ketchum's two-book nonfiction series consists of Turning Japanese (2013) and Writers On Writing (2015), completing the collection in publication order. These volumes represent the author's exploration of personal narrative and the craft of writing, drawing from his perspective as a prominent horror and literary fiction writer. Read the books sequentially beginning with Turning Japanese to experience Ketchum's full arc across this finished series.

Start with Turning Japanese and read in order.

3 books (1980–2010)

Jack Ketchum's Off Season trilogy is a complete horror series spanning three books published between 1980 and 2010. Begin with Off Season, the first novel, and proceed through Offspring and The Woman (co-written with Lucky McKee) in publication order. This series combines horror with literary fiction elements and should be read sequentially to follow the narrative progression across all three installments.

Start with Off Season and read in order.

#	Title
1	Off Season 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Offspring 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Woman(With: Lucky McKee) 2010Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

10 books (1994–2019)

Jack Ketchum's Short Stories/Novellas series comprises nine collections published between 1994 and 2019, representing a complete set of work that should be read in publication order starting with The Box. These volumes showcase Ketchum's versatility across horror, literary fiction, and nonfiction forms, offering standalone tales and novellas that span his career as a writer. The series concludes with Gorilla In My Room, providing a comprehensive look at the author's shorter works across multiple decades.

Start with The Box, the first of 9 books in the Short Stories/Novellas series.

#	Title
1	The Box 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Gone 2000Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	The Haunt 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	The Crossings 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Transformed Mouse 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Weed Species 2006Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Book of Souls 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	I'm Not Sam(With: Lucky McKee) 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	Notes from the Cat House 2013Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Gorilla In My Room 2019Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

9 books (1998–2015)

Jack Ketchum's Short Story Collections series comprises nine volumes of horror and literary fiction published between 1998 and 2015, with the sequence now complete. These collections should be read in publication order, beginning with Right to Life and progressing through Closing Time and Other Stories, Triptych, Night Terrors III, and concluding with What They Wrote. Several volumes feature collaborations, including Sleep Disorder co-written with Edward Lee. This series showcases Ketchum's distinctive approach to the short form across nearly two decades of his writing career.

Start with Right to Life, the first of 9 books in the Short Story Collections series.

#	Title
1	Right to Life 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard 1998Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Broken on the Wheel of Sex 1999Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Peaceable Kingdom 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	Sleep Disorder(With: Edward Lee) 2003Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Closing Time and Other Stories 2007Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Triptych 2012Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	Night Terrors III 2014Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	What They Wrote 2015Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

20 books (1974–2016)

Jack Ketchum's Standalone Novels series consists of 20 complete horror and literary fiction works published between 1974 and 2016, each designed to be read independently. These books should be approached in publication order, beginning with Laramie Plains and concluding with The Passenger and its five companion volumes. The series showcases Ketchum's evolution as a writer across four decades, blending psychological horror with darker explorations of human nature. Readers can start with any individual title or follow the chronological publication sequence to experience the author's body of standalone work.

Start with Laramie Plains, the first of 20 books in the Standalone Novels series.

#	Title
1	Laramie Plains 1974Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
2	Border Dawn 1976Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
3	Hide and Seek 1980Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
4	Dead or alive 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
5	The Guns of Amarillo 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
6	Winchester pass 1982Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
7	Cover 1987Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
8	She Wakes 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
9	The Girl Next Door 1989Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
10	Trail to Nowhere 1991Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
11	Joyride / Road Kill 1994Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
12	Only Child 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
13	Stranglehold 1995Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
14	Red 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
15	The Passenger 1996Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
16	Ladies' Night 1997Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
17	Station Two 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
18	The Lost 2001Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
19	Old Flames 2008Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible
20	The Secret Life of Souls(With: Lucky McKee) 2016Buy 🇺🇸🎧 Audible

3 books (2015–2016)

Jack Ketchum's Writers on Writing series consists of three complete volumes published between 2015 and 2016, featuring essays and insights from various horror and literary fiction authors. These books should be read in publication order, beginning with Volume 2 edited by Paul Kane, followed by Volumes 3 and 4 both edited by Joe Mynhardt. The series offers a collection of perspectives on the craft of writing from established voices in the horror and literary fiction genres. Each volume stands as a companion work exploring the creative process and techniques of contemporary authors.

Start with Writers on Writing Vol.2(By: Paul Kane) and read in order.