Are you ready to embark on an otherworldly journey that will send shivers down your spine and ignite your imagination? If you crave spine-chilling tales set in the distant corners of the universe and beyond, you’re in for a thrilling treat! Welcome to a handpicked collection of 30 Sci-Fi Horror Books that will immerse you in a nightmarish fusion of science fiction and horror. These are the stories that linger in the shadows of your mind, where the unknown collides with the familiar, and the boundaries of reality dissolve into terror.
From dystopian futures to haunted starships, alien invasions to chilling cosmic horrors, this meticulously curated list showcases the very best of the genre, promising to keep you up late into the night with a mix of heart-pounding suspense, unexpected twists, and thought-provoking scenarios. Each book on this list has been carefully selected for its ability to weave together the imaginative realms of science fiction and the primal fear inherent to horror.
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Best Sci Fi Horror Books
Whether you’re a seasoned sci-fi enthusiast or a fan of spine-tingling horror, these 30 extraordinary books will offer a gateway to uncharted realms and provoke existential questions. Prepare to explore the depths of the human psyche, confront the limits of existence, and delve into the realms of the unexplained.
So, fasten your seatbelts, extinguish the lights, and steel yourself for an extraordinary odyssey into the eerie depths of Sci-Fi Horror literature. Beware, for once you begin this journey, there’s no turning back.
Frankenstein – Mary Shelley
There is no greater novel and no more well-known monster than Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Now you can enjoy the original 1818 version in this beautifully designed edition.
The creature at the center of this tale is more than just a lumbering giant. He is in reality a thinking intelligent being who is tormented by a world in which he does not belong. Shelley draws upon the universal themes of creation and the nature of existence with the overall need for acceptance. As the narrative points out, it is without this acceptance that the true monster, the violent nature of humanity, emerges.
In the story, Swiss scientist Dr. Victor Frankenstein is obsessed with the secret of creation. He cobbles together a body he’s determined to bring to life until that one fateful night, when he actually does. As the creature opens his eyes, the doctor is repulsed to see that this is not his vision of perfection, but is instead a hideous monster. Dr. Frankenstein abandons his repulsive creation. And in doing so, sets in motion a chain of violence and terror wrought on by a monster who just will not be ignored
Blindsight (Firefall Book #1)
– Peter Watts
Two months of silence, while a world held its breath.
Now some half-derelict space probe, sparking fitfully past Neptune’s orbit, hears a whisper from the edge of the solar system. A faint signal sweeping the cosmos like a lighthouse beam. Whatever’s out there isn’t talking to us. It’s talking to some distant star, perhaps. Or perhaps to something closer, something en route.
So who do you send to force introductions with unknown and unknowable alien intellect that doesn’t wish to be met?
You send a linguist with multiple personalities, her brain surgically partitioned into separate, sentient processing cores. Send a biologist so radically interfaced with machinery that he sees x-rays and tastes ultrasound. You send a pacifist warrior in the faint hope she won’t be needed. You send a monster to command them all, an extinct hominid predator once called vampire, recalled from the grave with the voodoo of recombinant genetics and the blood of sociopaths. And you send a synthesist—an informational topologist with half his mind gone—as an interface between here and there.
Pray they can be trusted with the fate of a world. They may be more alien than the thing they’ve been sent to find.
Dead Silence – S.A. Barnes
Titanic meets Event Horizon in this SF horror novel in which a woman and her crew board a decades-lost luxury cruiser and find the wreckage of a nightmare that hasn’t yet ended.
Claire Kovalik is days away from being unemployed—made obsolete—when her beacon repair crew picks up a strange distress signal. With nothing to lose and no desire to return to Earth, Claire and her team decide to investigate.
What they find is shocking: the Aurora, a famous luxury spaceliner that vanished on its maiden tour of the solar system more than twenty years ago. A salvage claim like this could set Claire and her crew up for life. But a quick search of the ship reveals something isn’t right.
Whispers in the dark. Flickers of movement. Messages scrawled in blood. Claire must fight to hold on to her sanity. And find out what really happened on the Aurora before she and her crew meet the same ghastly fate.
Annihilation (The Southern Reach Book 1)
– Jeff VanderMeer
Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide; the third expedition in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.
The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.
They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—they discover a massive topographic anomaly and life forms that surpass understanding—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.
Ship of Fools – Richard Paul Russo
Home to generations of humans, the starship Argonos has wandered aimlessly throughout the galaxy for hundreds of years, desperately searching for other signs of life. Now, a steady, unidentified transmission lures them toward a nearby planet, where the grisly remains of a former colony await the crew. Haunted by what they have seen, the crew has no choice but to follow when another signal beckons the Argonos into deep space—and into the dark heart of an alien mystery…
Salvation Day – Kali Wallace
A lethal virus is awoken on an abandoned spaceship in this incredibly fast-paced, claustrophobic thriller.
They thought the ship would be their salvation.
Zahra knew every detail of the plan. House of Wisdom, a massive exploration vessel, had been abandoned by the government of Earth a decade earlier, when a deadly virus broke out and killed everyone on board in a matter of hours. But now it could belong to her people if they were bold enough to take it. All they needed to do was kidnap Jaswinder Bhattacharya—the sole survivor of the tragedy, and the last person whose genetic signature would allow entry to the spaceship.
But what Zahra and her crew could not know was what waited for them on the ship—a terrifying secret buried by the government. A threat to all of humanity that lay sleeping alongside the orbiting dead.
And then they woke it up.
Under the Dome – Stephen King
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.
Dale Barbara, Iraq vet and now a short-order cook, finds himself teamed with a few intrepid citizens—town newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital, a select-woman, and three brave kids. Against them stands Big Jim Rennie, a politician who will stop at nothing—even murder—to hold the reins of power, and his son, who is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry. But their main adversary is the Dome itself. Because time isn’t just short. It’s running out.
Infected – Scott Sigler
Across America, a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.
Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common—they’ve been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite.
Meanwhile Perry Dawsey awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices . . . he is infected.
The Stand – Stephen King
A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge—Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them—and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.
The Girl with All the Gifts- Mr Carey
Melanie is a very special girl. Dr Caldwell calls her “our little genius.”
Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don’t like her. She jokes that she won’t bite, but they don’t laugh.
I Am Legend – Richard Matheson
The population of the entire world has been obliterated by a pandemic of vampire bacteria. Yet somehow, Robert Neville survived. He must now struggle to make sense of what happened and learn to protect himself against the vampires who hunt him nightly.
Months of scavenging and hiding turn to years marked by depression and alcoholism. Robert spends his days hunting his tormentors and researching the cause of their affliction. But the more he discovers about the vampires around him, the more he sees the unsettling truth of who is—and who is not—a monster.
The Luminous Dead – Caitlin Starling
Em sees nothing wrong with controlling Gyre’s body with drugs or withholding critical information to “ensure the smooth operation” of her expedition. Em knows all about Gyre’s falsified credentials, and has no qualms using them as a leash—and a lash. And Em has secrets, too . . .
As Gyre descends, little inconsistencies—missing supplies, unexpected changes in the route, and, worst of all, shifts in Em’s motivations—drive her out of her depths. Lost and disoriented, Gyre finds her sense of control giving way to paranoia and anger. On her own in this mysterious, deadly place, surrounded by darkness and the unknown.
But how come she can’t shake the feeling she’s being followed?
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Robert Louis Stevenson
Dr. Henry Jekyll, fascinated by the dichotomy of good and evil, no longer wants to inhibit his dark side. He concocts a potion to create the alter ego of Mr. Edward Hyde. With the burden of evil placed on Hyde, Jekyll can now take pleasure in his immoral, nefarious fantasies—free of conscience and guilt. It’s when Hyde turns to murder that Jekyll realizes how monstrous his impulses are.
Exploring the nature of shame, repression, desire, and control. Stevenson’s story has so endured that “a Jekyll and Hyde personality” has become part of our lexicon in understanding our own duality.
World War Z – Max Brooks
We survived the zombie apocalypse, but how many of us are still haunted by that terrible time? We have (temporarily?) defeated the living dead, but at what cost? Told in the haunting and riveting voices of the men and women who witnessed the horror firsthand, World War Z is the only record of the pandemic.
The Zombie War came unthinkably close to eradicating humanity. Max Brooks, driven by the urgency of preserving the acid-etched first-hand experiences of the survivors, traveled across the United States of America and throughout the world, from decimated cities that once teemed with upwards of thirty million souls to the most remote and inhospitable areas of the planet. He recorded the testimony of men, women, and sometimes children who came face-to-face with the hell of that dreadful time. World War Z is the result.
The Passage – Justin Cronin
“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born.”
An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she feels the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.
Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton
An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.
Until something goes wrong. . . .
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells
Written between 1895 and 1897, H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. Filmed numerous times, this science fiction classic retains its power to disturb readers more than a century later.
Leviathan Wakes
James S. A. Corey
Humanity has colonized the solar system—Mars, the Moon, the Asteroid Belt and beyond—but the stars are still out of our reach.
Jim Holden is XO of an ice miner making runs from the rings of Saturn to the mining stations of the Belt. When he and his crew stumble upon a derelict ship, the Scopuli, they find themselves in possession of a secret they never wanted. A secret that someone is willing to kill for—and kill on a scale unfathomable to Jim and his crew. War is brewing in the system unless he can find out who left the ship and why.
Detective Miller is looking for a girl. One girl in a system of billions, but her parents have money and money talks. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and rebel sympathizer Holden, he realizes that this girl may be the key to everything.
Six Wakes
Mur Lafferty
In this Hugo nominated science fiction thriller by Mur Lafferty, a crew of clones awakens aboard a space ship. They soon find they’re being hunted. Any one of them could be the killer.
Maria Arena awakens in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood. She has no memory of how she died. This is new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died.
Maria’s vat is one of seven, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Dormire, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it can awaken. And Maria isn’t the only one to die recently. . .
The Last Astronaut
David Wellington
Sally Jansen was NASA’s leading astronaut, until a mission to Mars ended in disaster. Haunted by her failure, she lives in quiet anonymity, convinced her days in space are over.
She’s wrong.
A large alien object has entered the solar system on a straight course toward Earth. It has made no attempt to communicate. Out of time and out of options, NASA turns to Jansen.
But as the object reveals its secrets, Jansen and her crew find themselves in a desperate struggle for survival — against the cold vacuum of space, and something far, far worse…
Carrion Comfort
Dan Simmons
THE PAST… Caught behind the lines of Hitler’s Final Solution, Saul Laski is one of the multitudes destined to die in the notorious Chelmno extermination camp. Until he rises to meet his fate and finds himself face to face with an evil far older, and far greater, than the Nazi’s themselves…
THE PRESENT… Compelled by the encounter to survive at all costs, so begins a journey that for Saul will span decades and cross continents. Plunging into the darkest corners of 20th century history to reveal a secret society. These people may often exist behind the world’s most horrible and violent events.
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham
What if a meteor shower left most of the world blind—and humanity at the mercy of mysterious carnivorous plants?
Bill Masen undergoes eye surgery and awakes the next morning in his hospital bed to find civilization collapsing. Wandering the city, he quickly realizes that surviving in this strange new world requires evading strangers and the seven-foot-tall plants known as triffids. Triffids: plants that can walk and can kill a man with one quick lash of their poisonous stingers.
The Andromeda Strain
Michael Crichton
Five prominent biophysicists have warned the United States government that sterilization procedures for returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere. Two years later, a probe satellite falls to the earth and lands in a desolate region of northeastern Arizona. Nearby, in the town of Piedmont, bodies lie heaped across the ground, faces locked in frozen surprise. What could cause such shock and fear? The terror has begun, and there is no telling where it will end.
Gideon the Ninth
Tamsyn Muir
Brought up by unfriendly, ossifying nuns, ancient retainers, and countless skeletons, Gideon is ready to abandon a life of servitude and an afterlife as a reanimated corpse. She packs up her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and prepares to launch her daring escape. But her childhood nemesis won’t set her free without a service.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House and bone witch extraordinaire, has been summoned into action. The Emperor has invited the heirs to each of his loyal Houses to a deadly trial of wits and skill. If Harrowhark succeeds she will be become an immortal, all-powerful servant of the Resurrection. But no necromancer can ascend without their cavalier. Without Gideon’s sword, Harrow will fail, and the Ninth House will die.
I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream
Harlan Ellison
In a post-apocalyptic world, four men and one woman are all that remain of the human race, brought to near extinction by an artificial intelligence. Programmed to wage war on behalf of its creators, the AI became self-aware and turned against humanity. The five survivors are prisoners, kept alive and subjected to brutal torture.
This story and six more groundbreaking and inventive tales that probe the depths of mortal experience prove why Grand Master of Science Fiction Harlan Ellison has earned the many accolades.
Boneshaker
Cherie Priest
In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska’s ice. Thus was Dr. Blue’s Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.
But on its first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry. Destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthed a subterranean vein of blight gas. This then turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.
Who Goes There?
John W. Campbell Jr.
“Who Goes There?” is the novella that formed the basis of John Carpenter’s film The Thing. Campbell’s classic story tells of an Antarctic research base that discovers and thaws the ancient, frozen body of a crash-landed alien—with terrifying results!
John Dies at the End
David Wong & Jason Pargin
Jon Dies at the End is a genre-bending, humorous account of two college drop-outs inadvertently charged with saving their small town–and the world–from a host of supernatural and paranormal invasions.
John and I never had the chance to say no.
You still do.
I’m sorry to have involved you in this, I really am. But as you read about these terrible events and the very dark epoch the world is about to enter as a result, it is crucial you keep one thing in mind:
None of this was my fault.
Contagion
Erin Bowman
After receiving a distress call from a drill team on a distant planet, a skeleton crew goes into deep space to perform a standard search-and-rescue mission.
When they arrive, they find the planet littered with the remains of the project—including its members’ dead bodies. As they try to piece together what could have possibly decimated an entire project, they discover that some things are best left buried. And some monsters are only too ready to awaken.
The Tommyknockers
Stephen King
Something was happening in Bobbi Anderson’s idyllic small town of Haven, Maine. That gave every man, woman, and child in Haven powers far beyond those of ordinary mortals. Something that turned the town into a deathtrap for all outsiders. Something that is buried in the woods behind Bobbi’s house. With the help of her friend, Jim Gardener, they uncover an alien spaceship. And as they learn more about this strange discovery, the citizens of Haven begin to change. The townspeople are welding into one organic, homicidal, and fearsomely brilliant entity in thrall to the Tommyknockers, who piloted the alien ship.
Other Genres You Might Enjoy
If you’re a fan of sci-fi horror books and looking to expand your literary horizons, there are several other genres that might pique your interest. While nothing quite matches the unique blend of terror and technological wonders found in sci-fi horror, these genres offer their own captivating elements that resonate with fans of the dark and the unknown.
Psychological Thrillers: If you enjoy the mind-bending twists and eerie atmospheres of sci-fi horror, psychological thrillers could be your next obsession. These books delve into the depths of the human psyche, exploring the intricacies of fear, paranoia, and the uncanny. Prepare to be taken on thrilling journeys through the darkest corners of the human mind, leaving you questioning reality long after you’ve turned the final page.
Dystopian Fiction: For those who relish the dystopian settings often present in sci-fi horror, dystopian fiction is a natural choice. These novels paint haunting visions of the future, depicting societies ravaged by oppressive regimes, environmental catastrophes, or technological upheaval. Dive into worlds where survival is a constant struggle, and where the boundaries between hope and despair blur.
Supernatural Horror: If the supernatural elements in sci-fi horror leave you wanting more, delve into the vast realm of supernatural horror. These books feature ghosts, demons, witches, and other supernatural entities that haunt the characters’ lives. Prepare to be chilled to the bone as you encounter spine-tingling encounters with the unknown and the supernatural.
Post-Apocalyptic Fiction: Fans of sci-fi horror’s apocalyptic scenarios will find solace in post-apocalyptic fiction. These tales explore the aftermath of catastrophic events, showing how humanity copes and adapts to the changed world. Experience tales of resilience, survival, and the indomitable human spirit as characters face an uncertain future.
Cyberpunk: For readers intrigued by the fusion of advanced technology and darkness in sci-fi horror, cyberpunk literature provides an electrifying alternative. In these gritty, high-tech worlds, humanity grapples with the consequences of runaway technology, where cybernetics, virtual realities, and artificial intelligence blur the lines between man and machine.
Space Horror: If you’re drawn to the cosmic horrors found in sci-fi horror, space horror will satisfy your celestial cravings. These books take place in the vast expanse of space, where intrepid explorers encounter cosmic terrors beyond comprehension. Prepare to confront cosmic dread and unknown entities lurking in the inky depths of space.
Lovecraftian Fiction: For fans of cosmic horror and eldritch beings, Lovecraftian fiction pays homage to the works of H.P. Lovecraft. These stories are characterized by their cosmic insignificance of humanity and the presence of ancient, god-like entities that exist beyond human understanding. Enter a world of madness, forbidden knowledge, and existential terror.
In conclusion, sci-fi horror enthusiasts have a plethora of genres to explore, each offering its own unique blend of intrigue and darkness. Whether it’s the psychological depths of thrillers or the supernatural terrors of horror, these genres will keep your imagination running wild and your heart racing with fear. So, grab a book, dim the lights, and prepare to embark on thrilling literary adventures beyond the confines of space and time.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Si Fi Horror Books?
Sci-Fi Horror is a subgenre that combines elements of science fiction and horror to create narratives that blend futuristic or otherworldly settings with terrifying and suspenseful elements. It often involves themes of technological advancements, alien encounters, dystopian societies, cosmic horror, and the unknown.
Exactly what makes Sci-Fi Horror books different from traditional Horror or Science Fiction?
Traditional horror typically focuses on supernatural or paranormal elements in a contemporary setting. Meanwhile, Science fiction explores futuristic or speculative technological concepts. Sci-Fi Horror merges the two genres, introducing terrifying and unsettling elements within futuristic or alien landscapes.
What are some common themes in Sci-Fi Horror books?
Common themes in Sci-Fi Horror include the fear of the unknown, the consequences of technological advancements, survival in hostile environments, exploration of human nature under extreme circumstances, and the encounter with extraterrestrial life or cosmic entities.
