Simon Bestwick is an accomplished author of horror novels, hailing from England. Recognized as one of the top modern British horror authors by Ramsey Campbell, Bestwick has written a number of highly regarded works, such as "The Faceless," "Tide of Souls," "Pictures of the Dark," "A Hazy Shade of Winter," "Angels of the Silences," and "Let Drink to the Dead." His writing is celebrated for its ability to evoke fear and unease, making him a standout figure in contemporary horror literature.
Born in Wolverhampton in 1974, Bestwick has held a variety of jobs throughout his life, including work as a fast food operative, drama teacher, and training administrator. These diverse experiences have likely informed his writing, providing him with a wealth of material to draw upon in creating his characters and settings. In addition to his novels, Bestwick is also a prolific writer of short fiction, with his work appearing in numerous magazines and anthologies, including "Nasty Piece of Work," "All Hallows," "Darkness Rising," "Extremes 5," and "Beneath the Ground."
According to the Guardian, Bestwick is a "brilliant" writer, while Campbell has praised him as "among the most important writers of contemporary British horror." Despite this high praise, Bestwick remains humble, joking that his mother has described him as "completely lacking in common sense." Born and raised in Wolverhampton, Bestwick later moved to Manchester before settling in Merseyside, where he currently resides with his partner. When he's not writing, Bestwick enjoys pursuing a variety of interests, including walking, films, literature, and music, as well as indulging in good food and the occasional pint. He is also addicted to tea, Pepsi Max, and semicolons, giving him a unique perspective and voice in the world of horror fiction.
Black Road Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Hell's Ditch
2015
2
Devil's Highway
2016
3
Wolf's Hill
2018
Standalone Novels
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Faceless
2012
2
The Feast of All Souls
2016
3
A Different Kind of Light
2021
4
Devils Of London
2021
5
Black Mountain
2021
Short Stories/Novellas
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Narrows
2008
2
Dermot
2011
3
Breakwater
2018
4
Roth-Steyr
2020
5
Jaeger
2024
Collections
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
A Hazy Shade Of Winter
2004
2
Pictures of the Dark
2009
3
Let's Drink To The Dead
2012
4
The Condemned
2013
5
Judgement Call / Along the Long Road
2018
6
And Cannot Come Again
2019
Chapter Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Angels of the Silences
2011
The Black Books of Horror Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Black Book of Horror
2007
2
The Black Book of Horror (By: D.F. Lewis, Paul Finch, Mark Samuels, Gary McMahon, David A. Sutton, Gary Fry, John Llewellyn Probert, David A. Riley, Charles Black, Daniel McGachey, David Conyers, Steve Goodwin, John Kenneth Dunham, Franklin Marsh, Frank Nicholas, Roger B. Pile, Sean Parker)
2007
3
The Third Black Book of Horror (By: Steve Lockley, Paul Finch, Joel Lane, Gary McMahon, Gary Fry, John Llewellyn Probert, David A. Riley, Paul Lewis, Charles Black, Craig Herbertson, Mike Chinn, Franklin Marsh, Frank Nicholas, Sean Parker, Julia Lufford, Rog, John Mains, Christine Mortimer)
2008
4
The Third Black Book of Horror
2008
5
The Fifth Black Book of Horror
2009
6
The Fifth Black Book of Horror (By: Paul Finch, John Llewellyn Probert, David A. Riley, Reggie Oliver, Charles Black, Rosalie Parker, Anna Taborska, David Williamson, Craig Herbertson, Ian C. Strachan, Marcus Gold, Richard Staines, Raymond Vaughn)
2009
7
The Eighth Black Book of Horror (By: Paul Finch, Mark Samuels, Gary Fry, John Llewellyn Probert, David A. Riley, Stephen Bacon, Tina Rath, Reggie Oliver, Charles Black, Marion Pitman, Anna Taborska, Thana Niveau, David Williamson, Kate Farrell, Tony Rath)
2011
8
The Eighth Black Book of Horror
2011
9
The Ninth Black Book of Horror
2012
10
The Ninth Black Book of Horror (With: Paul Finch, Gary Fry, John Llewellyn Probert, David A. Riley, Tom Johnstone, Charles Black, Marion Pitman, Anna Taborska, Thana Niveau, David Williamson, Craig Herbertson, Kate Farrell, Sam Dawson, Gary Power, John Forth, Marc Lyth)
2012
11
The Tenth Black Book of Horror (By: Paul Finch, David A. Sutton, John Llewellyn Probert, Charles Black, Andrea Janes)
2013
12
The Tenth Black Book of Horror
2013
Black Shuck Shadows Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Tales of New Mexico (By: Joseph D'Lacey)
2017
2
Tales of New Mexico
2017
3
Unquiet Waters
2017
4
Unquiet Waters (By: Thana Niveau)
2017
5
The Life Cycle (By: Paul Kane)
2017
6
The Life Cycle
2017
7
The Death of Boys (By: Gary Fry)
2018
8
The Death of Boys
2018
9
Broken on the Inside (By: Phil Sloman)
2018
10
Broken on the Inside
2018
11
The Martledge Variations
2018
12
The Martledge Variations (By: Simon Unsworth)
2018
13
Singing Back the Dark
2018
14
The Spirits of Christmas
2019
15
Winter Freits
2019
16
The Spirits of Christmas (By: Paul Kane)
2019
17
The Dead
2019
18
Winter Freits (By: Andrew Barker)
2019
19
The Forest of Dead Children
2019
20
The Dead (By: Paul Kane)
2019
21
At Home in the Shadows
2019
22
The Forest of Dead Children (By: Andrew Hook)
2019
23
At Home in the Shadows (By: Gary McMahon)
2019
24
Suffer Little Children
2019
25
Shadowcats
2019
26
Suffer Little Children (By: Penny Jones)
2019
27
The Cat Sitter
2019
28
Shadowcats (By: Anna Taborska)
2019
29
The Cat Sitter (By: Anna Taborska)
2019
30
Flowers of War
2019
31
Uneasy Beginnings
2020
32
Flowers of War (By: Mark Howard Jones)
2019
33
Green Fingers (By: Dan Coxon)
2020
34
Three Mothers, One Father
2020
35
Green Fingers
2020
36
Uneasy Beginnings (By: Simon Kurt Unsworth)
2020
37
The Adventures of Mr Polkington
2020
38
Three Mothers, One Father (By: Sean Hogan)
2020
39
Voices
2020
40
The Adventures of Mr Polkington (By: Tina Rath)
2020
41
The Watcher in the Woods
2020
42
Voices (By: Kit Power)
2020
43
The Watcher in the Woods (By: Charlotte Bond)
2020
44
Nine Ghosts
2021
45
Waterlore (By: Teika Marija Smits)
2023
Dark Minds Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Slaughter Beach (By: Benedict J. Jones)
2015
2
Slaughter Beach
2015
3
What They Find in the Woods
2016
4
What They Find in the Woods (By: Gary Fry)
2016
5
Kids
2016
6
Kids (By: Paul M. Feeney)
2016
7
Ruin
2016
8
Ruin (By: Rich Hawkins)
2016
9
Naming the Bones (By: Laura Mauro)
2017
10
Naming the Bones
2017
11
Winter Holiday
2018
12
Winter Holiday (By: Chad A. Clark)
2018
13
A Love Like Blood
2019
Tomes of the Dead Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Death Hulk (By: Matthew Sprange)
2006
2
Tomes of the Dead: Anno Mortis
2008
3
I, Zombie
2008
4
The Words of Their Roaring (By: Matthew Smith)
2007
5
Tomes of the Dead
2009
6
The Devil's Plague (By: Mark Beynon)
2007
7
Anno Mortis (By: Rebecca Levene)
2008
8
Tomes of the Dead: Hungry Hearts
2009
9
Stronghold
2010
10
I, Zombie (By: Al Ewing)
2008
11
Way of the Barefoot Zombie (By: Jasper Bark)
2009
12
Empire of Salt
2010
13
Tide of Souls
2009
14
The Best of Tomes of the Dead Vol. 1.
2010
15
Best of the Tomes of the Dead Vol. 2
2011
16
Hungry Hearts (By: Gary McMahon)
2009
17
Brain-Eating Britain: Three Bone-Crunching Tales of Zombies in Broken Britain
2013
18
Stronghold ( By: Paul Finch)
2010
19
Empire of Salt ( By: Weston Ochse)
2010
20
The Lazarus Conundrum
2015
21
Viking Dead (By: Toby Venables)
2011
22
Brain-Eating Britain (With: Gary McMahon, Matthew Smith)
2013
23
The Secret Zombie History of the World (By: Paul Finch, Matthew Sprange, Toby Venables)
2013
24
Dead Stop (By: Mark Clapham)
2014
25
The Lazarus Conundrum (By: Paul Starkey)
2015
26
The Death and Life of Schneider Wrack (By: Nate Crowley)
2017
Best Horror of the Year Books
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
2009
2
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two
2010
3
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three
2011
4
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four
2012
5
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
2013
6
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six
2014
7
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven
2015
8
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight
2016
9
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine
2017
10
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten
2018
11
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction
2018
12
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven
2019
13
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Twelve
2020
14
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen
2021
15
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen
2022
16
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fifteen
2024
17
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen
2024
18
The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Seventeen
2025
Simon Bestwick Anthologies
#
Title
Year
Goodreads
Amazon
1
Darkness Rising, Volume 1: Night's Soft Pains
2001
2
Beneath The Ground
2002
3
Shadow Writers: v. 2
2003
4
We Fade To Grey
2008
5
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One
2009
6
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two
2010
7
Never Again
2010
8
The End of the Line
2010
9
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three
2011
10
Estronomicon Halloween Special 2011
2011
11
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four
2012
12
Tales of the Nun and Dragon
2012
13
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five
2013
14
The Best British Fantasy 2013
2013
15
Twisted Histories
2013
16
X7: A Seven Deadly Sins Anthology
2013
17
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six
2014
18
Horror Uncut
2014
19
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven
2015
20
Game Over
2015
21
2nd Spectral Book of Horror Stories
2015
22
Tomorrow's Cthulhu
2015
23
The Hyde Hotel
2016
24
Haunts of Horror
2016
25
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight
2016
26
Sherlock Holmes's School for Detection
2017
27
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine
2017
28
The Anatomy of Monsters: Volume I
2018
29
The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten
2018
30
The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction