For Women in Horror Month (WiHM) March 2026, we’re showcasing books and authors from marginalized genders who venture into the unsettling, twisted landscape of the Weird West. Read on for Weird West short stories, novellas, anthologies and books that range from the darkly disturbed to fantastically imaginative.
Anthologies
There’s no better place than anthologies to get a taste and flavor of many excellent horror western shorts by women. Here are three excellent books to start with:
Queer Weird West Tales (2022) edited by Julie Bozza features stories–many with a horror flair–by J.A. Bryson, Dannye Chase, S.E. Denton, Adele Gardner, KC Grifant, Narrelle M Harris, Toshiya Kamei, Catherine Lundoff, Bunny McFadden, Atlin Merrick, Eleanor Musgrove, Jennifer Lee Rossman, Lauren Scharhag, Sara L. Uckelman, Dawn Vogel and others.
Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium Paperback (2024) edited by
by Suzanna Lundale and Marc Tizura showcases over 40 original pieces imagining a Weird West full of horrors and wonders.
Women of the Weird West (2026) edited by KC Grifant will showcase 24 tales of horror and the fantastical by Eugen Bacon, Jennifer Brody, V. Castro, K.M. Chavez, Deborah Daughetee, Sarah Faxon, Jendia Gammon, Anastasia Jill, R.J. Joseph, Nicole Givens Kurtz, Angela Liu, Christine Lucas, Anna Madden, Tiffany Morris, Donna J.W. Munro, SJ Myles, Nico Martinez Nocito, Cynthia Pelayo, Grace Quon, Stephanie Rabig, Rebecca Rowland, Tammy Salyer, Lisa Timpf, Angelica Urquizo and Mathilda Zeller.
10 weird west horror authors to check out
Katie Berry
She is a transplanted easterner from Ottawa, Ontario, now living for the last several decades in the beautiful West-Kootenays of British Columbia. She is a long-time writer (and wrote her first short story in grade 2) and voracious reader with a life-time fascination with all things macabre, supernatural and unexplained.
About the series: Caleb Cantrill is an Irishman whose luck may have just run out. He has two vast fortunes and can’t remember the location of either. And that’s the least of his worries. A gang of blood-thirsty bandits are riding north to claim his first fortune, sovereign gold, which he stole from them. His second fortune, a vast gold strike, comes with a monstrous blight attached, one he unleashed onto a small mountain town nestled in the heart of a remote Canadian valley. Now, after running all his life, Caleb must make a stand and fight not only for his friends and fortune but also his future, knowing that if he does, he will likely die trying.
Arlo Zven Graves
Arlo Zven Graves lives in a salvaged shack deep in the woods and mostly comes out at night. They can be found lurking, collecting cool rocks, or playing ocarina. Zven doesn’t bite (often) and you should come say hi on social media.
About the book: Only one revolver shoots silver and the Black Rose suffers no fools. In an Old West where machines come to life and deadly silver terrorizes the land, Warden Valasquez craves vengeance. He needs the legendary Colt Buntline revolver, the Black Rose, to get it. But the Black Rose has other plans.
KC Grifant
KC Grifant is an award-winning writer based in Southern California who writes and edits internationally published horror, fantasy, science fiction and weird west stories. She is the author of the supernatural western series Monster Gunslinger, with the first book, Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger, receiving positive reviews internationally. She is also the founder of the Weird West Fiction website, the editor of Women of the Weird West (Brigids Gate Press, 2026), co-creator of the Monster Gunslingers Game, and co-editor of Of Terrors and Tombstones (Stars and Sabers, 2027).
About the series: Stoic sharpshooter Melinda West and her easygoing partner, Lance, make a living hunting monsters that threaten towns and tribes. Facing everything from soul-stealing demons to nightmarish plagues, the duo takes on high-stakes jobs across desolate frontiers—armed with grit, charm, and a whole lot of firepower. But as they battle terrifying new creatures, they realize the biggest fight of their lives is just beginning. To stop a supernatural war, they’ll have to confront not just the monsters around them, but the ghosts of their own pasts. An action-packed mix of western grit and supernatural thrills, the Monster Gunslingers series is perfect for fans of The Witcher, Supernatural, Ghostbusters, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Wynonna Earp, and Bonnie and Clyde.
Jo Kaplan
Jo Kaplan is the author of It Will Just Be Us and When the Night Bells Ring. Her short stories have appeared in Fireside Quarterly, Black Static, Nightmare Magazine, Vastarien, Horror Library, Nightscript, and award winning anthologies. She has also published work as Joanna Parypinski. In addition to writing, she teaches English and creative writing at Glendale Community College. She is currently the co-chair of the Horror Writers Association’s Los Angeles chapter.
About the book: In a future ravaged by fire and drought, two climate refugees riding across the wasteland of the western US stumble upon an old silver mine. Descending into the caved-in tunnels in search of water, the two women find the diary of Lavinia Cain, who brought her family to Nevada in the 1860s. Lavinia discovered something monstrous that dwells in the depths of the mine. Whispers of curses and phantom figures haunt the diary, and now, over 150 years later, trapped and injured in the abandoned mine, the women discover they’re not alone. The monsters are still here—and they’re thirsty.
Bitter Karella
Bitter Karella is the horror writer and aficionado behind the three time Hugo-nominated microfiction comedy account Midnight Pals. Karella writes gonzo psycho-sexual body horror with a grotesquely humorous edge. His short story “Low Tide Jenny,” originally published in Seize the Press magazine, was a winner of Tenebrous Press’ Brave New Weird award in 2022, and her work has also been published by Eerie River Publishing, Ghoulish Books, and From Beyond Press.
About the novelette: California, 1860. The corrupt judge and snake oil baron Lazarus Dives murdered her family; now the nameless drifter known only as the Horse Girl is out for revege. But can a man who’s sold his soul to the devil for eternal life be killed? It’ll be no easy task; but with extra motivation in the form of a bounty on the judge by Death herself, the Horse Girl plans to collect – even if it costs her soul.
Nicole Givens Kurtz
Nicole Givens Kurtz has been called “a genre polymath who does crime, horror, and Science Fiction and Fantasy (Book Riot).” They’ve named her as one of the 6 Black SFF Indie Writers You Should be Reading, 30 Must-Read SFF Books by Black Authors, and The Best of the West: 8 Alternative History Westerns (Sisters of the Wild Sage). She’s a two-time Atomacon Palmetto Scribe Award winner. With over 20 years in publishing, She’s written for Pseudopod, Apex, Fiyah, White Wolf, The Realm, Baen, Subsume, and MV Media. Nicole has over 50 published short stories, including her story, “The Way Home,” in Marvel®’s Captain America: The Shield of Sam Wilson anthology from Titan Books. Nicole is the author of the Cybil Lewis and Death Violations cybernoir series as well as the Kingdom of Aves fantasy mystery series.
About the collection: When someone with a pistol meets someone with a magic wand, the pistol loses. From Nicole Givens Kurtz comes a collection of weird western short stories nestled in the often horrific American past and tucked into the parched future. Here are tales of talisman, magic, and the power of ancients wielded by those strong enough to endure the harsh new frontier. These rugged individuals brought not only their belongings but their eastern beliefs with them. They weren’t ready for the west. Are you? Saddle up. Escape to a West as weird and wonderful as one might imagine.
C.R. Langille
C.R. Langille spent many a Saturday afternoon watching monster movies with their mother. It wasn’t long before they started crafting nightmares to share with their readers. They are a retired, disabled veteran with a deep love for weird and creepy tales. This prompted them to form Timber Ghost Press in January of 2021. They are an affiliate member of the Horror Writer’s Association, a member of the League of Utah Writers, and they received their MFA: Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.
About the book: Pinkerton Evelyn Horn has seen her fair share of the weird and dark. But when she arrives in the Utah Territories to investigate the disappearance of fellow Pinkerton and friend, she finds herself facing something even more sinister. Strange occult rites, crazed cultists, and ancient prophecies all point to something dark and malevolent lurking in the shadows. Evelyn must use all her skills and experience to survive the horrors that await her in the mountains. A gritty, action-packed, and bloody horror story, Branches and Bones is a must-read for fans of the genre.
Christine Morgan
Christine Morgan writes across a variety of genres, from the historical to the hellacious and beyond. Her novel Lakehouse Infernal (set in Edward Lee’s universe) won the Splatterpunk Award in 2020, and its sequel, Warlock Infernal, came out in 2022. She’s also known for her Viking-themed horror and dark fantasy, loves mythology and folklore and twisted fairy-tales, and was a longtime contributor to The Horror Fiction Review.
About the books: The Night Silver River Run Red: Carnies, cultists, townsfolk, and outlaws are all in for one wild ride when trouble breaks out in this extreme horror crazy comedy action-packed Splatter Western from Death’s Head Press.
White Death: Inspired by actual events; after a deceptive warm spell in early 1888, a terrible blizzard sweeps the plains … but, in the pioneer settlement of Far Enough, it brings dangers besides those of the freezing wind and snow.
Hailey Piper
Hailey Piper is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth, Cruel Angels Past Sundown, A Light Most Hateful, The Worm and His Kings series, and other books of dark fiction. She is an active member of the Horror Writers Association, with words appearing in Library Journal, CrimeReads, Tor Nightfire, Pseudopod, Vastarien, and various other publications. She lives with her wife in Maryland, where their occult rituals are secret.
About the book: New Mexico Territory, 1882: She comes to the Klein ranch at sunset, a strange naked pregnant woman dragging a cavalry saber. Annette Klein and her husband have built peace between their marriage and secret relations beyond, but their serenity dies in bloodshed tonight through a cannibalistic demon and a mad preacher. Annette barely escapes the bloodbath to the nearby town of Low’s Bend. where she might find safety with friends, but hell is at her heels. If she’s going to survive until dawn, she’ll have to forget everything she knows about peace and mercy, and face a hollow malevolence more ancient and ruthless than she’s ever imagined.
Stephanie Rabig
Stephanie Rabig has been into horror ever since she could read (a librarian remembered her decades later because she tried to check out Dracula in kindergarten). When not reading or watching her favorite genre, she’s making jewelry and tea blends, or adopting yet another cat.
About the book: When a prairie-mad settler murders Milton Allen’s brother and his family, the wealthy rancher offers an enormous bounty to bring the culprit in. Ada Marshall and Pearl Beckwourth, bounty hunters with twenty years experience, assume this is yet another straightforward job. But when a fellow bounty hunter is torn to pieces not fifty feet away from their camp, their natural wariness grows, and in the tiny, isolated valley town of Woodlawn, they learn that the attacker may not even be human…
More Weird Western Women Authors to Check Out
Rachel Aaron – The Last Stand of Mary Good Crow
Emma Bull – Territory
Julie Bozza – Queer Weird West Tales
Catt Colborn – Biting the Golden Dust Canyon
Kelly Sue DeConnick – Pretty Deadly
Gemma Files – A Book of Tongues
Sarah Gailey – River of Teeth
Pamela Jeffs – The Terralight Collection
Kenzie Jennings – Red Station
Charlaine Harris – the Gunnie Rose series
Suzanna Lundale (editor) – Zehlreg Augustus Grindstone’s Spectacular Western Oddity Emporium
Catherine Lundoff – Queer Weird West Tales
Laura Marden – “Come Devil“
V.S. McGrath – The Devil’s Revolver (4-book series)
Sophia Minetos – Graves for Drifters and Thieves
Regina Garza Mitchell – Shadow of the Vulture
TC Parker – Salvation Spring
Rebecca Roanhorse – Tread of Angels
Tammy Salyer – Weird West Otherworld Outlaws series
Hayley Stone – Make Me No Grave
Weird West Fiction 