A new annual anthology series from editors Lindy Ryan and Stephanie M. Wytovich will celebrate and preserve the best horror fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by women in contemporary horror.
Black Spot Books is proud to announce THE YEAR’S BEST FROM WOMEN IN HORROR, a new annual reprint anthology series dedicated to celebrating, preserving, and building a lasting record of women’s contributions to the genre.
Edited by award-winning authors and anthologists Lindy Ryan and Stephanie M. Wytovich, the inaugural volume will collect outstanding horror fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by women and female-identifying authors published during each calendar year. Debuting in Spring 2028, VOLUME I will include work originally published in 2026 and feature an introduction by author, historian, and horror scholar Lisa Morton.
The new series builds on Black Spot Books’ acclaimed women-in-horror anthology series and its longstanding commitment to championing women’s voices in the genre. Ryan has served as editor and curator of the Bram Stoker Awards®-nominated series, which includes Into the Forest: Tales of the Baba Yaga, Mother Knows Best: Tales of Homemade Horror, and HOWL: An Anthology of Werewolves, co-edited with Wytovich. Each installment in the series has earned numerous starred reviews from book trade media. HOWL was named a Library Journal Best Book of 2025.
Together, Ryan and Wytovich bring decades of experience as writers, editors, educators, and advocates for horror literature to the project. Described by Shelf Awareness as a “champion for women’s voices in horror,” Ryan has built much of her career around amplifying women’s contributions to the genre and is recognized as one of horror’s most masterful anthology curators. Wytovich is a two-time Bram Stoker Awards®-winning poet, editor, and educator whose work has appeared in multiple best-of collections, including The Best Horror of the Year from Ellen Datlow.
Ryan and Wytovich believe women have always been instrumental in defining and redefining horror, yet remarkable work—especially pieces published through independent presses, small magazines, digital publications, limited-run anthologies, and other ephemeral venues—can easily disappear from the larger literary conversation. The Year’s Best from Women in Horror series will celebrate the exceptional work of women in the genre while serving as a living canon that captures its breadth, preserves pieces that might otherwise be lost to time, and places emerging and underrepresented voices alongside established authors as part of the ongoing record of contemporary horror.
Submissions will open for The Year’s Best from Women in Horror, Volume I on October 31, 2026 and will remain open through December 31, 2026. Full submission guidelines are available at https://www.blackspotbooks.com/submissions
BLACK SPOT BOOKS Black Spot Books is a women-owned specialty press publisher of award-winning anthologies and collections by women in horror. Learn more about Black Spot Books at www.blackspotbooks.com
