Editor Picks 2023

Who doesn't love a roundup?

As 2023 closes out, I wanted to give a shoutout to my favorite reads. Some of these were released this year while others I read for the first time this year. Since this is a full round-up for my 2023 reading experience, a lot of these are in the horror genre but some are not. We like what we like, right? Unfortunately, I did not get to everything in my TBR pile so there's still plenty of 2023 reading to do in 2024. This year was a really wonderful time for horror poetry, in particular.

All opinions are those of myself and Phoebe (featured above) who sat with me for every read. Titles are listed alphabetically in each category.

Short fiction

"9 Lies You Tell Yourself About Ghost Hunting" by Aimee Picchi in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 128, 2023)

"A Portrait of the Artist as an Angry God (In Landscape)" by Patrick Barb in Pre-Approved for Haunting: And Other Stories (Keylight Books, 2023)

"Candelaria and the Red-Eyed Bunch Gang" by K.C. Grifant in Along Harrowed Trails (Timber Ghost Press, 2023)

"Devil Take Me" by Gordon B. White in Gordon B. White is creating Haunting Weird Horror(s) (Trepidatio Publishing, 2023)

"Fully Comprehensive Code Switch" by M.H. Ayinde in Monstrous Futures (Dark Matter INK, 2023)

"Lesbian Bed Death" By Elizabeth Anne Schwartz in Hearth and Coffin (Volume 3: Consume, 2023)

"The Girl Who Lost Herself" by Tiffany Michelle Brown in How Lovely To Be a Woman: Stories and Poems (Independent, 2023)

Single Poem

"Awakening" by Tiffany Morris in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 134, 2023)

"Could that sweet Darkness where they dwell" by Emily Dickinson (The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, 1955)

"Lepidoptera" by Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad in Rust & Moth (Autumn 2023 issue)

"Why Are You Haunted?" by Joan Tierney in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 130, 2023)

Short non-fiction

"I Wrote This Stoned at 2PM on a Tuesday" by Claire C. Holland (L.A. Jayne, 2023)

"The H Word: Healing Through Horror" by Rae Knowles in Nightmare Magazine (Issue 128, 2023)

Poetry collection

Bad Omens by Jessica Drake-Thomas (Querencia Press, 2023)

Knees in the Garden by Christina D. Rodriguez (Querencia Press, 2023)

Mourning Jewelry by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2014)

On the Subject of Blackberries by Stephanie M. Wytovich (Raw Dog Screaming Press, 2023)

Sad Sexy Catholic by Lauren Milici (CLASH Books, 2023)

The Lies We Weave by Grace R. Reynolds (Curious Corvid Publishing, 2023)

The Quiet Ways I Destroy You by Jessica McHugh (Apokrupha, 2023)

Unshuttered: Poems by Patricia Smith (TriQuarterly, 2023)

Short fiction collection

How Lovely To Be a Woman: Stories and Poems by Tiffany Michelle Brown (Independent, 2023)

Las Criaturas by Leticia Urieta (Flowersong Press, 2021)

Pre-Approved for Haunting: And Other Stories by Patrick Barb (Keylight Books, 2023)

Novelette/Novella

Agony's Lodestone by Laura Keating (Tenebrous Press, 2023)

Black Tree Atop the Hill by Karla Yvette (CLASH Books, 2023)

Green Fuse Burning by Tiffany Morris (Stelliform Press, 2023)

Our Own Unique Affliction by Scott J. Moses (DarkLit Press, 2023)

Sleep Alone by J.A.W. McCarthy (Off Limits Press, 2023)

Long Nonfiction

Emily Dickinson Face to Face by Martha Dickinson Bianchi (Archon Books, 2023)

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark (Vintage, 2020)

The Real Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paula Byrne (Harper, 2013)

Novel

Burn the Negative by Josh Winning (G.P. Putnman's Sons, 2023)

Citizens of Shadow (Beguiled by Night #2) by Nicole Eigener (Independent, 2023)

Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric LaRocca (CLASH Books, 2023)

The Briars by Stephanie Parent (Cemetery Gates Media, 2023)

White Horse by Erika T. Wurth (Flatiron Books, 2022)

[Image Credit: photo by Emily Ruth Verona]