Best Paula Guran Audiobooks

The best Paula Guran audiobooks — 6 titles ranked by listening experience across Horror, averaging 3.49 ABR stars.

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Paula Guran is less a writer than a curator with a point of view — one of horror and dark fantasy's most trusted editors, responsible for shaping what the genre considers its best each year. Her Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror series is essential reading for anyone who wants a map of where the genre's edges are being pushed, and her themed anthologies — Vampires: The Recent Undead, Zombies: The Recent Dead, Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women — go beyond simple compilation. Each collection has an argument embedded in it, a perspective on what these monster archetypes actually mean. Guran's taste runs toward literary darkness: psychologically precise, tonally controlled, the kind of horror that lingers rather than shocks. Readers who want a knowledgeable guide into the genre's serious work, not just its most commercial, will find Guran indispensable.

Paula Guran's highest-rated audiobook in our collection is Zombies: More Recent Dead, narrated by Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin (3.62 ABR stars). Performed by narrators including Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin, Jonathan Davis, L J Ganser, Josh Hurley, Bahni Turpin, Marc Vietor, Bahni Turpin, Jonathan Davis, Khristine Hvam, Suzanne Toren, Marc Vietor, Josh Hurley, Edoardo Ballerini, and more. Rankings here weight the listening experience — narrator performance and Audible ratings factor alongside reader scores.

Where to Start with Paula Guran

  1. 1
    Zombies: More Recent Dead cover

    Zombies: More Recent Dead

    by Paula Guran, Mike Carey, Neil Gaiman, Kathleen Tierney, Stephen Graham Jones, Joe R. Lansdale, Jonathan Maberry, Carrie Vaughn, Carrie Ryan, Matthew Johnson

    Narrated by Sean Pratt, Marguerite Gavin

    ★ 3.62 ABR Score (342 ratings)
    ★ 3.63 Goodreads (212) ★ 4.08 Audible (130)
    More about this pick

    Sean Pratt and Marguerite Gavin tackle stories from Neil Gaiman, Joe Lansdale, and other horror masters with appropriately varied approaches. Each narrator adapts their style to match the unique tone of different zombie tales.

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  2. 2
    Zombies: The Recent Dead cover

    Zombies: The Recent Dead

    by Paula Guran, Steve Duffy, Max Brooks, Nik Houser, Andy Duncan, David J. Schow, Joe R. Lansdale, Neil Gaiman, Alice Sola Kim, Gary A. Braunbeck, Francesca Lia Block, Tobias S. Buckell, David Wellington, Tim Waggoner, Kit Reed, Brian Keene, Kelly Link, Gary McMahon, Scott Edelman, Kevin Veale, Michael Marshall Smith, Tim Lebbon, David Prill

    Narrated by Jonathan Davis, L J Ganser, Josh Hurley, Bahni Turpin, Marc Vietor

    ★ 3.29 ABR Score (1.2K ratings)
    ★ 3.66 Goodreads (939) ★ 3.4 Audible (268)
    More about this pick

    From voodoo thralls to viral victims, this massive anthology proves zombies are monumentally mutable monsters, with multiple narrators handling each imaginative interpretation.

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  3. 3
    Vampires: The Recent Undead cover

    Vampires: The Recent Undead

    The Morganville Vampires: Extras #9 (Dead Man Stalking )

    by Paula Guran, Albert E. Cowdrey, J.A. Konrath, Jeanne C. Stein, Karen Russell, Kelley Armstrong, Kim Newman, Mary Turzillo, Michael Marshall Smith, Nancy Kilpatrick, Nisi Shawl, Barbara Roden, Rachel Caine, Stephen Dedman, Susan Sizemore, Tanith Lee, Tanya Huff, Tina Rath, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Carrie Vaughn, Charlaine Harris, Charles de Lint, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Conrad Williams, Holly Black, John Langan

    Narrated by Bahni Turpin, Jonathan Davis, Khristine Hvam, Suzanne Toren, Marc Vietor, Josh Hurley, Edoardo Ballerini

    ★ 3.42 ABR Score (1.1K ratings)
    ★ 3.6 Goodreads (958) ★ 3.6 Audible (191)
    More about this pick

    Twenty-six authors reimagine vampire mythology across every genre from romance to science fiction. Seven narrators tackle this massive anthology, each bringing distinct voices to the undead's modern evolution.

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  4. 4
    Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women cover

    Blood Sisters: Vampire Stories by Women

    by Paula Guran

    Narrated by Fleet Cooper, Daniel Deadwyler, Bethany Lind

    ★ 3.52 ABR Score (337 ratings)
    ★ 3.54 Goodreads (314) ★ 3.48 Audible (23)
    More about this pick

    Female authors redefine vampire mythology across cultures and centuries in this comprehensive collection. Fleet Cooper, Daniel Deadwyler, and Bethany Lind voice the diverse supernatural tales.

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  5. 5
    The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010 cover

    The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010

    Kyle Murchison Booth • Book 4

    by Paula Guran, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Ramsey Campbell, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Stewart O'Nan, Sarah Pinborough, Norman Prentiss, Barbara Roden, Lucius Shepard, Peter Straub, Michael Shea, Kelly Link, Ekaterina Sedia, Catherynne M. Valente, Gerard Houarner, Gemma Files, Kurt Dinan, Elizabeth Bear, Roby Davies, Maura McHugh, Dale Bailey, Deborah Biancotti, Gary McMahon, Holly Phillips, John Mantooth, Marc Laidlaw, Margo Lanagan, Michael Marshall Smith, Nadia Bulkin, Nathan Ballingrud, Paul Tremblay, Peter Atkins, Sarah Monette, Seth Fried, Stephen Graham Jones, Steve Duffy, Steve Rasnic Tem, Suzy McKee Charnas, John Langan

    Narrated by Kristin James, Matt Godfrey

    ★ 3.59 ABR Score (436 ratings)
    ★ 3.84 Goodreads (431) ★ 4 Audible (5)
    More about this pick

    From haunted houses to mysterious green stones, this collection explores darkness in everyday places through stories by Peter Straub, Kelly Link, and other masters of the genre.

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  6. 6
    The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume Two cover

    The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror, Volume Two

    The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror • Book 2

    by Paula Guran

    Narrated by James Fouhey, Julienne Irons

    ★ 3.52 ABR Score (93 ratings)
    ★ 3.85 Goodreads (89) ★ 3.75 Audible (4)
    More about this pick

    Paula Guran curates another collection of supernatural and surreal tales that carry on horror's disquieting traditions with modern twists.

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How We Rank Audiobooks

Rankings are driven by listener ratings and review counts from Audible and Goodreads. Books with high ratings across a large number of listeners rank higher — a 4.5 with 50,000 ratings says more than a 4.8 with 200.

Unlike most book lists, we weight audiobook-specific factors: narrator performance, production quality, and how well a story translates to audio. A great book with a poor narration isn't a great audiobook.

We don't accept paid placements or prioritize new releases. These rankings reflect what listeners actually enjoy, not what's being promoted.

Rankings update periodically as new ratings come in and new titles are added to the collection.

Read our full ranking methodology →