Woman holds book and human skull in hand

40+ free horror stories by Australian women

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

J.S. Breukelaar

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

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

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

Kirstyn McDermott

Angela Rega

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

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

Kaaron Warren

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.