Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Genre Guide – Body Horror

Kristin
Kristin

Body Horror often features gross and terrifying transformations happening to humans. Like a rash, from Kafka’s The Metamorphosis to today, body horror is spreading! 

These selections using the body or disease as metaphor to explore societal norms, expectations and systemic violence. If you want to explore the visceral, grotesque and fleshy side of fear without sparing any of the debauched details this is your genre. 

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If you need help using our Digital Media tools to access these selections, visit our Online Resources Support page.

If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them to you! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.

If you have any additional questions, you can call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org. You can find additional ways to contact us on the Need Help? page.

In the Catalog

Cursed Bunny

Cursed Bunny

Po-ra Chŏng

A stunning, wildly original debut from a rising star of Korean literature—a short story collection that is both so very gross and so very funny.

From the Catalog
From Libby
From Hoopla
Maeve Fly

Maeve Fly

CJ Leede

A provocative and unforgettable debut that is both a blood-soaked love letter to Los Angeles and a gleeful send-up to iconic horror villains. The way you feel about this cover tells you if you are going to want to read this book.

From the Catalog
From Libby
Wilder Girls

Wilder Girls

Rory Power

Tox girl summer! A mysterious sickness is affecting a group of campers waiting to be rescued.

From the Catalog
From Libby
Her Body and Other Parties

Her Body and Other Parties

Stories

Carmen Maria Machado

From the Catalog
From Libby
From Hoopla
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Angela Carter

Classic fairy tale retellings, but infinitely more terrifying than the originals (which are also incredibly disturbing!).

From the Catalog
Chlorine

Chlorine

A Novel

Jade Song

From the Catalog
From Libby
From Hoopla
Bloom

Bloom

Delilah S. Dawson

A Sapphic romance with a dark turn.

From the Catalog
Your Body Is Not your Body

Your Body Is Not your Body

A New Weird Horror Anthology

A Weird Horror compilation featuring all your favorite weirdos!

From the Catalog
From Hoopla
Lakewood

Lakewood

A Novel

Megan Giddings

A brutal medical research history lesson exploring the lives impacted by an exploitative and violent experiment.

From the Catalog
From Libby
From Hoopla
Nightbitch

Nightbitch

Rachel Yoder

Two years after giving up her art career, a stay-at-home mother becomes convinced she’s slowly turning into a dog. While researching a cure, she finds a book that encourages her to embrace animal nature.

From the Catalog
From Libby
Tender Is the Flesh

Tender Is the Flesh

A Novel

Agustina María Bazterrica

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans–though no one calls them that anymore. After a virus makes animal meat poisonous, human meat becomes legal. Marcos tries to practice cogitative dissonance, until one day he meets a human that reminds him of his humanity.

From the Catalog
From Libby
Frankenstein

Frankenstein

The 1818 Text

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Body horror before it was cool.

From the Catalog
Shiver

Shiver

Selected Stories

Junji Itō

Junji Ito is the manga horror master and this is considered a classic of the genre.

From the Catalog