The Dark Descent Books in Order
229
Books
1972
First Book
2024
Latest Book
53
Years
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: January 2026
Publication Order
1
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series II
Buy on Amazon1972
2
The Year's Best Horror Stories No. 3
Buy on Amazon1973
3
Great Black Magic Stories
Buy on Amazon1974
4
The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror
Buy on Amazon1975
5
Jack the Knife: Tales of Jack the Ripper
Buy on Amazon1975
6
Star Book of Horror No. 1
Buy on Amazon1975
7
Nameless Places
Buy on Amazon1975
8
Beyond Midnight
Buy on Amazon1976
9
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series IV
Buy on Amazon1976
10
Disciples of Cthulhu
Buy on Amazon1976
11
Cold Fear
Buy on Amazon1977
12
Whispers
Buy on Amazon1977
13
Rivals Of Dracula
Buy on Amazon1977
14
The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 4
Buy on Amazon1978
15
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series VI
Buy on Amazon1978
16
New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos
Buy on Amazon1980
17
New Terrors
Buy on Amazon1980
18
New Terrors Vol. 1
Buy on Amazon1980
19
Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror
Buy on Amazon1980
20
New Terrors II
Buy on Amazon1980
21
Scaremongers
Buy on Amazon1981
22
65 Great Spine Chillers
Buy on Amazon1982
23
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XI
Buy on Amazon1983
24
The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series XII
Buy on Amazon1984
25
Kingdom of Fear: The World of Stephen King
Buy on Amazon1986
26
Halloween Horrors
Buy on Amazon1986
27
Cutting Edge
Buy on Amazon1986
28
Tales From the Forbidden Planet
Buy on Amazon1987
29
Gaslight & Ghosts
Buy on Amazon1988
30
First Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon1988
31
Barbarians 2
Buy on Amazon1988
32
Hunger for Horror
Buy on Amazon1988
33
Demons & Dreams: The Best Fantasy and Horror 1
Buy on Amazon1988
34
Book of the Dead
Buy on Amazon1989
35
Hot Blood Tales of Erotic Horror
Buy on Amazon1989
36
Second Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon1989
37
Third Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon1989
38
Dark Fantasies
Buy on Amazon1989
39
The Year's Best Fantasy 2 / Demons and Dreams
Buy on Amazon1990
40
Dark Voices 2
Buy on Amazon1990
41
Best New Horror
Buy on Amazon1990
42
Volume II: The Medusa In The Shield
Buy on Amazon1990
43
Now We Are Sick
Buy on Amazon1991
44
Dark Voices 3
Buy on Amazon1991
45
Best New Horror 2
Buy on Amazon1991
46
Darklands No 1
Buy on Amazon1991
47
Cold Blood
Buy on Amazon1991
48
Taboo #5
Buy on Amazon1991
49
The Architecture of Fear
Buy on Amazon1991
50
Borderlands 4
Buy on Amazon1991
51
Best New Horror 3
Buy on Amazon1992
52
The Mammoth Book of Vampires
Buy on Amazon1992
53
Fifth Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon1992
54
The Giant Book of Zombies
Buy on Amazon1993
55
Deathport
Buy on Amazon1993
56
The Giant Book of Best New Horror
Buy on Amazon1993
57
100 Hair-Raising Little Horror Stories
Buy on Amazon1993
58
Best New Horror 4
Buy on Amazon1993
59
The Mammoth Book of Zombies
Buy on Amazon1993
60
The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein
Buy on Amazon1994
61
The Anthology of Fantasy and the Supernatural
Buy on Amazon1994
62
Cthulhu's Heirs
Buy on Amazon1994
63
The Giant Book of Terror
Buy on Amazon1994
64
The Starry Wisdom: A Tribute to H.P. Lovecraft
Buy on Amazon1994
65
Sea-Cursed
Buy on Amazon1994
66
The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men / The Mammoth Book of Werewolves
Buy on Amazon1994
67
100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories
Buy on Amazon1995
68
100 Wicked Little Witch Stories
Buy on Amazon1995
69
Best New Horror 6
Buy on Amazon1995
70
Cthulhu 2000
Buy on Amazon1995
71
Tales from Tartarus
Buy on Amazon1995
72
Dark Terrors
Buy on Amazon1995
73
Dark Terrors 2
Buy on Amazon1996
74
Giant Book of Fantasy Tales
Buy on Amazon1996
75
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 7
Buy on Amazon1996
76
Dark of the Night
Buy on Amazon1997
77
Dark Terrors 3
Buy on Amazon1997
78
100 Fiendish Little Frightmares
Buy on Amazon1997
79
Millenium
Buy on Amazon1997
80
The Mammoth Book of Dracula
Buy on Amazon1997
81
Crimes of Passion
Buy on Amazon1997
82
Hot Blood X
Buy on Amazon1998
83
Dark Terrors 4
Buy on Amazon1998
84
The Young Oxford Book of Nasty Endings
Buy on Amazon1998
85
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 9
Buy on Amazon1998
86
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 10
Buy on Amazon1999
87
Dark Terrors 5
Buy on Amazon2000
88
Swords Against the Millennium
Buy on Amazon2000
89
October Dreams
Buy on Amazon2000
90
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, #11
Buy on Amazon2000
91
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, #12
Buy on Amazon2001
92
Fourteenth Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon2001
93
Keep Out The Night
Buy on Amazon2002
94
Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 13
Buy on Amazon2002
95
Dark Terrors 6
Buy on Amazon2002
96
Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores
Buy on Amazon2002
97
Beneath The Ground
Buy on Amazon2002
98
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 14
Buy on Amazon2003
99
Gathering the Bones
Buy on Amazon2003
100
Vivisections
Buy on Amazon2003
101
The Dark: New Ghost Stories
Buy on Amazon2003
102
The Fear Within
Buy on Amazon2003
103
Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection
Buy on Amazon2003
104
The Mammoth Book of New Terror
Buy on Amazon2004
105
Great Ghost Stories
Buy on Amazon2004
106
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 15
Buy on Amazon2004
107
Poe's Progeny
Buy on Amazon2005
108
Dark Delicacies
Buy on Amazon2005
109
Lost on the Darkside: Voices From The Edge of Horror
Buy on Amazon2005
110
Best New Horror 16
Buy on Amazon2005
111
Corpse Blossoms
Buy on Amazon2005
112
Shrouded by Darkness: Tales of Terror
Buy on Amazon2006
113
Read by Dawn, Vol. 1
Buy on Amazon2006
114
Best New Horror 17
Buy on Amazon2006
115
Best New Horror 18
Buy on Amazon2007
116
Summer Chills
Buy on Amazon2007
117
The Mammoth Book of Monsters
Buy on Amazon2007
118
Bound for Evil: Curious Tales of Books Gone Bad
Buy on Amazon2008
119
The New Uncanny
Buy on Amazon2008
120
Best New Horror 19
Buy on Amazon2008
121
The Best of Cemetery Dance II
Buy on Amazon2008
122
Dancing with the Dark
Buy on Amazon2009
123
Best New Horror 20
Buy on Amazon2009
124
Dead Souls
Buy on Amazon2009
125
The Dead That Walk
Buy on Amazon2009
126
Curse of the Full Moon: A Werewolf Anthology
Buy on Amazon2010
127
Haunted Legends
Buy on Amazon2010
128
Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror
Buy on Amazon2010
129
Black Spiral Twisted Tales of TERROR
Buy on Amazon2010
130
Never Again
Buy on Amazon2010
131
Best New Horror 21
Buy on Amazon2010
132
The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, 2010 Edition
Buy on Amazon2010
133
The End of the Line
Buy on Amazon2010
134
Visitants
Buy on Amazon2010
135
Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead
Buy on Amazon2011
136
A Book of Horrors
Buy on Amazon2011
137
Full Fathom Forty
Buy on Amazon2011
138
Stranger by Night
Buy on Amazon2011
139
Dead Bait 2
Buy on Amazon2011
140
The Book of Cthulhu
Buy on Amazon2011
141
Best New Horror 22
Buy on Amazon2011
142
Horror for the Holidays
Buy on Amazon2011
143
Rage Against the Night
Buy on Amazon2011
144
Cut Corners Volume 1
Buy on Amazon2012
145
The Devil's Coattails
Buy on Amazon2012
146
The Mammoth Book of Body Horror
Buy on Amazon2012
147
Horror for Good
Buy on Amazon2012
148
A Feast of Frights from The Horror Zine
Buy on Amazon2012
149
Four For Fear
Buy on Amazon2012
150
Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury
Buy on Amazon2012
151
Mammoth Books Presents The Unexpected
Buy on Amazon2012
152
Mammoth Books presents A Ghostly Gathering
Buy on Amazon2012
153
Best New Horror 23
Buy on Amazon2012
154
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
Buy on Amazon2013
155
Weirder Shadows Over Innsmouth
Buy on Amazon2013
156
Zombies!: Tales of the Walking Dead
Buy on Amazon2013
157
Bad Seeds: Evil Progeny
Buy on Amazon2013
158
Memoryville Blues: A Postscripts Anthology 30/31
Buy on Amazon2013
159
Tales of Jack the Ripper
Buy on Amazon2013
160
Fearie Tales
Buy on Amazon2013
161
Flotsam Fantastique: The Souvenir Book of World Fantasy Convention 2013
Buy on Amazon2013
162
Best New Horror 24
Buy on Amazon2013
163
Beware the Dark #1
Buy on Amazon2013
164
Fresh Fear
Buy on Amazon2013
165
Chiral Mad 2
Buy on Amazon2013
166
Best New Horror 25
Buy on Amazon2014
167
Fossil Lake
Buy on Amazon2014
168
Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror
Buy on Amazon2014
169
Horror 101: The Way Forward
Buy on Amazon2014
170
Cursed Curiosities
Buy on Amazon2014
171
Suspended In Dusk
Buy on Amazon2014
172
The Starry Wisdom Library
Buy on Amazon2014
173
Shadows Over Main Street
Buy on Amazon2015
174
Cthulhu Deep Down Under Volume 1
Buy on Amazon2015
175
Best New Horror #26
Buy on Amazon2015
176
Horrorology
Buy on Amazon2015
177
Horror 201: The Silver Scream Vol. 1
Buy on Amazon2015
178
Gutted
Buy on Amazon2016
179
Darker Terrors 7
Buy on Amazon2016
180
Chiral Mad 3
Buy on Amazon2016
181
In the Shadow of Frankenstein
Buy on Amazon2016
182
The Beauty of Death
Buy on Amazon2016
183
Grave Predictions
Buy on Amazon2016
184
Ten Tall Tales: And Twisted Limericks
Buy on Amazon2016
185
The Madness of Dr. Caligari
Buy on Amazon2016
186
Floppy Shoes Apocalypse 2: Cherry Nose Armageddon
Buy on Amazon2016
187
Behold! Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders
Buy on Amazon2017
188
Dark Places, Evil Faces
Buy on Amazon2017
189
New Fears
Buy on Amazon2017
190
Below the Stairs: Tales from the Cellar
Buy on Amazon2017
191
In the Footsteps of Dracula
Buy on Amazon2017
192
The Beauty of Death, Vol. 2
Buy on Amazon2017
193
Behind the Mask - Tales from the Id
Buy on Amazon2018
194
Dark Discoveries - Issue #38
Buy on Amazon2018
195
Beyond the Infinite: Tales from the Outer Reaches
Buy on Amazon2018
196
Suspended in Dusk II
Buy on Amazon2018
197
The Mammoth Book of Halloween Stories
Buy on Amazon2018
198
The Black Room Manuscripts, Volume Four
Buy on Amazon2018
199
The Alchemy Press Book of Horrors
Buy on Amazon2018
200
This Dreaming Isle
Buy on Amazon2018
201
The Mammoth Book of Nightmare Stories
Buy on Amazon2019
202
Best New Horror 29
Buy on Amazon2019
203
Mannequin: Tales of Wood Made Flesh
Buy on Amazon2019
204
Terrifying Tales to Tell at Night
Buy on Amazon2019
205
Urban Crime Short Stories
Buy on Amazon2019
206
Nowhereville
Buy on Amazon2019
207
Lovecraft Mythos New & Classic Collection
Buy on Amazon2020
208
The Horror Writer: A Study of Craft and Identity in the Horror Genre
Buy on Amazon2020
209
Miscreations
Buy on Amazon2020
210
Stories of Hope and Wonder: In Support of UK's Healthcare Workers
Buy on Amazon2020
211
The Horror Collection: Emerald Edition
Buy on Amazon2020
212
Best New Horror #30
Buy on Amazon2020
213
The Mammoth Book of Folk Horror
Buy on Amazon2021
214
Out of the Ruins: The Apocalyptic Anthology
Buy on Amazon2021
215
Best New Horror #31
Buy on Amazon2021
216
Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology to the MostHaunted Buildings in the Weird, Wild World
Buy on Amazon2021
217
From The Depths
Buy on Amazon2021
218
The Horror Zine’s Book of Werewolf Stories
Buy on Amazon2022
219
Revelations
Buy on Amazon2022
220
Dark Stars: New Tales of Darkest Horror
Buy on Amazon2022
221
Close to Midnight
Buy on Amazon2022
222
13 Haunted Houses
Buy on Amazon2023
223
Literally Dead: Book 1
Buy on Amazon2023
224
Reports from the Deep End
Buy on Amazon2023
225
Strange Tales of Terror
Buy on Amazon2023
226
Nightmare Abbey 5
Buy on Amazon2024
227
Nature Triumphs
Buy on Amazon2024
228
Spook City
Buy on Amazon2024
229
You're Not Alone in the Dark
Buy on Amazon2024
Frequently Asked Questions
The recommended reading order for the The Dark Descent series is publication order: 1. The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series II (1972), 2. The Year's Best Horror Stories No. 3 (1973), 3. Great Black Magic Stories (1974), 4. The Satyr's Head: Tales of Terror (1975), 5. Jack the Knife: Tales of Jack the Ripper (1975), and 224 more. This is generally the best way to experience the story as the author intended.
The The Dark Descent series by Ramsey Campbell contains 229 books. The series began in 1972 and continues to be a popular choice for readers.
The The Dark Descent series is written by Ramsey Campbell. You can find more books and series by this author on our website.
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