🎯 Where Should I Start?
ⓘ About Laurel Hightower
Laurel Hightower is a horror fiction novelist who grew up in Kentucky and went to college in Tennessee and California before she moved back home. She currently makes her home in horse country alongside her husband and son and their Pitbull. A beer and bourbon girl, she is a huge fan of true-life ghost stories and horror movies. She can sometimes be found on social media posting cute pictures of her kids and dogs. Like many novelists, Laurel Hightower has a very similar background to her contemporaries. Now that she is a paralegal she does not think she will ever become a full-time author since she loves the routine and certainty too much.
All Book Series by Laurel Hightower
Dark Lines
Series opener · book 1 of 17 · published 2022 Anthology · Jack Harding
Lessons in Demoralization
Book 3 of 17 · published 2022 Anthology · Nikki R. Leigh
This is Where We Talk Things Out
Book 4 of 17 · published 2022 Anthology · Caitlin Marceau
Femina of Dark Fiction
Book 7 of 17 · published 2022 Anthology · Caitlin Marceau
Sick!: Stories From the Goop Troop
Book 12 of 17 · published 2023 Anthology · Eric Raglin,Lor Gislason,Shelley Lavigne
When I Look At The Sky, All I See Are Stars
Book 15 of 17 · published 2024 Anthology · Steve Stred
In Excess of Dark
Latest in the series · book 17 of 17 · published 2024 Anthology · Red Lagoe
Melon Head Mayhem
Series opener · book 1 of 7 · published 2023 Anthology · Alex Ebenstein
24 Frames Per Second: Three Hollywood Horror Novellas
Latest in the series · book 17 of 17 · published 2025
Split Scream Volume One
Series opener · book 1 of 7 · published 2022 Co-authored · Carson Winter
Split Scream Volume Two
Book 2 of 7 · published 2022 Anthology · Alex Ebenstein,M. Lopes da Silva,Cynthia Gómez
Split Scream Volume Three
Book 3 of 7 · published 2024 Anthology · J.A.W. McCarthy,Patrick Barb
Split Scream Volume Four
Book 4 of 7 · published 2024 Anthology · Holly Lyn Walrath,D. Matthew Urban
Split Scream Volume Five
Book 5 of 7 · published 2024 Anthology · Lyndsey Croal,Bitter Karella
Split Scream Volume Six
Book 6 of 7 · published 2024 Anthology · Ryan T. Jenkins,David Corse
Split Scream Volume Seven: Off the Map
Latest in the series · book 7 of 7 · published 2025 Anthology · Íde Hennessy,John K Peck,L Mahler
Grimdark Magazine Issue #48
Latest in the series · book 12 of 12 · published 2026
? Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Laurel Hightower?
Laurel Hightower is a horror fiction novelist who grew up in Kentucky and went to college in Tennessee and California before she moved back home. She currently makes her home in horse country alongside her husband and son and their Pitbull. A beer and bourbon girl, she is a huge fan of true-life ghost stories and horror movies.
Which Laurel Hightower series should I start with?
The best place to start is the DarkLit series, the earliest of Laurel Hightower's multi-book series: it opens with Dark Lines (2022) and runs to 17 books across 2022–2024, ending with In Excess of Dark (2024). Laurel Hightower's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.
How many books has Laurel Hightower written?
Laurel Hightower has 66 books catalogued in this guide, published between 2018 and 2026. 48 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being the DarkLit series with 17 books — and 18 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.
In what order should Laurel Hightower's series be read?
Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. Laurel Hightower's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are DarkLit (2022–2024, 17 books), Split Scream (2022–2025, 7 books) and Killer VHS (2023–2025, 7 books).
How are Laurel Hightower's books organised into series?
This guide splits Laurel Hightower's 66 books into 4 named series and 18 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: DarkLit (17 books, 2022–2024); Killer VHS (7 books, 2023–2025); Split Scream (7 books, 2022–2025); Dark Tide Horror Novellas (17 books, 2022–2025).