It’s Women in Horror Month! And while every month is Women in Horror Month for me, I thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight the amazing female horror writers in Australia.
On this list of short stories are some of my favourite award-winning horror authors along with exciting new talents. Many thanks to one of my favourite women in horror, Angela Slatter, who helped compile this list.
While most of these stories are free online, if you find something you like, can I encourage you to subscribe or donate to your magazine of choice? That keeps us authors paid and the magazines publishing stories. Win-win.
Free horror stories by Australian women
Listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Joanne Anderton
- Bullets at Podcastle
J.S. Breukelaar
- Union Falls at Fantasy Magazine
- Some Kind of Monster at Gobbet (poetry)
- The Fall (an excerpt) at New Dead Families
Kat Clay (that’s me)
- At risk of tooting my own horn, my Aurealis nominated story Reef is free to read at SQ Mag
Elaine Cuyegkeng
- The House That Creaks at The Dark
Claire Fitzpatrick
- Claire has four stories available to read at Curious Fictions including:
- Electromagnatism (CW: sexual assault)
- Fledgling
- The Jacaranda House
- The Dog
Geneve Flynn
- The Fledgling at Tales to Terrify (podcast)
Lisa L Hannett
- Sweet Subtleties at Clarkesworld
- Heirloom Pieces at Apex Magazine
- The Dark have a
huge list of her stories including:
- Another Mouth
- A Shot of Salt Water
- The Canary
- Little Digs
- In Syllables of Elder Seas
- Sugared Heat
Rue Karney
- Butterfly Pie at SQ Mag
Kirstyn McDermott
- Triquetra at tor.com
Angela Rega
- Beehive Heart at The Dark
Angela Slatter
- The Dark also
have published a lot of Angela’s stories including:
- By My Voice I Shall Be Known
- Bearskin
- The Jacaranda Wife
- Neither Time Nor Tears
- The Heart is a Mirror for Sinners
- Better Angels
- The Red Forest
- Wilderling
- No Good Deed
Cat Sparks
- Before Dominica at Kaleidotrope
AJ Spedding
- Child of the Emptyness in Grimdark Mag (this is a paid publication, but I didn’t want to leave AJ off the list)
Helen Stubbs
- Uncontainable at Apex Magazine
- Polymer Island at Kaleidotrope
Kaaron Warren
- Eleanor Atkins is Dead and Her House is Boarded Up at SQ Mag
- Nightmare
have published many of Kaaron’s stories including:
- Bridge of Sighs
- Death’s Door Café
- Mountain
- All You Can Do is Breathe
Sophie Yorkston
- While Sophie doesn’t have any stories to read online, it’s worth noting her contribution as the former editor of SQ Mag, which published many horror stories by women.
Got a great horror story by a female author to share? Did I miss anyone? Pop a link in the comments below.
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